Tumbaga Silver: For Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire

The "Tumbaga" wreck, named for a large cache of tumbaga silver bars recovered from it, was one of the two wreck sites uncovered by the Marex team in 1992 north of Grand Bahama during the salvage of the Maravillas. More than 200 silver bars, about 20 small gold ingots, and a dozen early gold money pieces were all salvaged from a small area. All of the material is datable to the reign of King Charles I of Spain and his seal was found on the gold and silver bars. This book details the conservation of the tumbaga bars and contains the actual investigative field notes of Douglas Armstrong, along with chapters outlining the production and assay methods used by the Spanish in the New World in the early 16th century. This newly revised edition features enhanced close-ups of the various stamps on the bars as well as a color photo gallery of more than seventy selected specimens.