The emerald originally came from Colombia. Mitzi visited Ukraine over the summer, and the trip compelled her to part with her “most precious possession,” she adds. Now, Mitzi is bringing the emerald to auction in order to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. “Since he was someone who was entranced with the romance of history, I’m not surprised that he kept the emerald.” “Although Frank donated just about all the coins and other artifacts that he received from the Atocha … he held onto this one piece,” Mitzi says in a statement on her website. He used it to propose to the woman who became his wife, Mitzi Perdue, in 1988. Perdue donated the majority of his share to the Smithsonian Institution and Delaware Technical Community College, but he kept one item-an emerald-which he fashioned into an engagement ring. He received a cut of the Atocha’s treasures, which were worth over $1 billion in total. ![]() One of the expedition’s funders was Frank Perdue, the late CEO of Perdue Farms. But after a lengthy legal battle, a United States Supreme Court ruling gave all rights to the treasure hunters in 1982. In addition to 70 pounds of Colombian emeralds, the ship contained 180,000 silver coins, 24 tons of Bolivian silver, 125 gold bars and a collection of Venezuelan pearls.įollowing Fisher’s initial discoveries, the state of Florida laid claim to the treasures. Finally, in 1985, Fisher and his team of treasure hunters uncovered the main hull of the Atocha-and with it, a trove of valuables. In the 1960s, treasure hunter Mel Fisher discovered the Santa Margarita near Florida’s coast. The ships remained underwater near what is now Florida for over 300 years. Another vessel, the Santa Margarita, met the same fate. The Atocha was a vessel commissioned to support Spanish colonization, and it was returning from an expedition in Havana when it ran into the hurricane and sank. Soon, that emerald will be sold at Sotheby’s Magnificent Jewels auction, where it is expected to fetch between $50,000 and $70,000. They are crude, and irregular on the edges, though some of the first coins minted in the New World were exquisitely created by indigenous artisans trained in the Spanish style.In 1622, a ship called the Nuestra Señora de Atocha sank in a hurricane-with a 6.25-carat emerald, among many other treasures, on board. ![]() ![]() The treasures recovered on the Atocha vary from gold and silver coins that were minted in the New World Spanish colonies, Colombian Emeralds from the famed Muzo Mine, and handcrafted treasures intended for the King and Queen of Spain, Noblemen, and Clergy.Ĭoins from the Atocha are known by collectors as "cobs," a loose translation of "Cabo de Barra", or "End of the Bar", referring to the technique in which these handmade coins were created. The Atocha is widely known as the "greatest treasure ever found," in terms of overall value and difficulty of salvage. Treasures of the Atocha and her sister ship, the Santa Margarita, went undiscovered until July of 1985, though Spain attempted a salvage immediately after the wreck occurred.Īn estimated $450,000,000.00 worth of Spanish treasure was recovered by Mel Fisher and his team of divers in the mid-to-late eighties, though a large portion of the remaining treasure has yet to be found, according to the ship's manifest. On the Fifth of September, disaster struck as Northeast winds from a massive hurricane scattered the Fleet 60 miles North of the coast of Cuba. She was one of twenty-eight vessels in the Terre Firme Fleet, heading to Spain with trade goods and treasure. La Nuestra Senora de Atocha, constructed in Havana Harbor, left the port of Havana on September 4, 1622, after much delay in construction.
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