GO FOR THE GOLD

Treasure from 1662 shipwreck up for bid

An exquisite gold chalice, an emerald encrusted crucifix and a gold bar recovered froma Spanish ship that sank off the coast of Florida in 1622 will go up for auction in New York next month.

The extraordinary items were discovered by a US treasure hunter from the wreckage of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, the most famous vessel in a Spanish flotilla that sank after sailing into a hurricane.

The ship, laden with New World riches, was one of at least eight that sank in the storm en route back to Spain. She went down with 265 people on board, of whom only five survived.

After a painstaking, expensive search taking more than 15 years, Mel Fisher located the wreckage on July 20, 1985, recovering $ 450 million worth of treasure, including coins and precious jewelry.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the discovery, the Guernsey’s auction house on Aug. 5 is offering nearly 40 items retrieved from the Atocha and other wrecks found by Fisher.

Among the items going under the hammer will be 100 rare and soughtafter silver coins from the Atocha and her sister ship, the Santa Margarita, the auction house announced on Monday.

Guernsey’s estimates the total value of the items up for sale is around $ 1.5 million to $ 2 million.

The lots were the favorite pieces of Fisher and his wife, Dolores, their daughter Taffi Fisher Abt told Agence France Presse.

“It’s going to be kind of a bittersweet ordeal,” she said. “They were my mother and father’s favorite pieces. We’d like to keep them forever, but dad always used to say we were just the holders.

“It’s time to let these pieces go,” she said.

A vast array of the unique treasure is on display at the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum in Key West, Fla., and at a private museum in Sebastian, Fla.

Many other pieces also have been donated to other museums across the United States, according to Fisher Abt.

Her father’s dreams of finding ancient riches began when he read Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” as a child.

He went on to serve with the US Army in World War II. In 1980, he discovered more than $ 20 million worth of gold and other riches of the Santa Margarita, which sank in the same storm as the Atocha.

Fisher died in 1998. His wife passed away in 2009.

CHEERS: This golden chalice is among items recovered from a sunken Spanish ship that will be auctioned.

DIOS MIO! A golden crucifix encrusted with emeralds was aboard the Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha.

CHARMING: This bezoar stone pendant ( below) was believed to be used to test for poisons and toxins in liquids.

SENSE OF AURA: This gold bar ( right) was found by treasure hunter Mel Fisher on the galleon that sank off Florida in 1622.