Watch List notes:

Triangular cut piece of a silver "splash" ingot, 70.2 grams, marked with a crowned Mexican-style cross inside a circular border with lion, castle, G and shell in the quadrants, from an unidentified late-1500s site off the coast of Georgia (very rare and important provenance). Approx. 1-1/2" x 1-1/4" x 3/8". Outer segment with two broken sides, rough bottom but smoother top exhibiting half of a well-detailed stamping, identical to ones seen from the so-called "Power Plant wreck" off the east coast of Florida, with a crowned, fleur-tipped cross (usually indicative of Mexico but in fact also used in the second series of coinage from Santo Domingo in 1578), this example clearly showing a lion at upper right and a scallop at lower right, just as seen on the "Power Plant" pieces, on some of which you can see clearly that the scallop is punched over a castle, with a G punched over a lion in the lower-left quadrant (see Spanish Treasure Bars, by Craig and Richards [2003], page 9). It is important to note that three Spanish Franciscan mission stations were located on St. Simons island (Asao [or San Simon], Ocotonico and Santo Domingo de Talaxe), and it is likely this silver ingot-cut was related. Found on the south end of St Simons, Georgia, and pedigreed to the Thomas Gray collection and formerly displayed at the ANA Money Museum's "Treasures of the Deep" exhibit (2014-15), also pedigreed to our Auction #13, with original lot-tag #397 and photo-certificate.

Estimate: $1500 - 3000