Atocha Silver Cup- Marquesas, FL (3D)

Atocha Silver Cup 2000.001.0001 by The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum on Sketchfab

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Institution: Mel Fisher Maritime Museum

State: Florida

Object: Cup

Era: 17th Century

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In 1622, the Spanish treasure galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (Our Lady of Atocha) set sail for Spain laden with gold, silver, copper, emeralds, pearls, and other trade goods from Spanish colonies in South America. As the ship sailed near Marquesas Key in southern Florida, a hurricane sunk the vessel.

Treasure hunter Mel Fisher and his family searched for the Atocha shipwreck for sixteen years before finding it in 1985. After a lengthy legal battle with the State of Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that marine salvage laws granted ownership to Fisher’s Company, Treasure Salver’s Inc. This cup was one of many recovered objects and is currently housed in the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida.

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Sources:

• Crandall, James M. “Standardization in the production of silver objects recovered from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha.” Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, 2016.

• Moore, David D., and Corey Malcom. “Seventeenth-Century Vehicle of the Middle Passage: Archaeological and Historical Investigations on the ‘Henrietta Marie’ Shipwreck Site.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 12, no. 1 (2008): 20–38.

• Paull, James. “Salvaging Sunken Shipwrecks: Whose Treasure Is It? A Look at the Competing Interests for Florida’s Underwater Riches.” Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law 9, no. 2 (1994): 347–73.

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