In 1985, after a sixteen year long search, Mel Fisher, the "Worlds Greatest Treasure Hunter" fulfilled his life long ambition to discover a lost Spanish Galleon laden with New World treasure. His quest was the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, the Admiralta of a fleet of ships bound for Spain and the Kings treasury, the Atocha's manifest, discovered in the archives of Spain confirmed that the Atocha carried in excess of 47 tons of gold and silver. The Atocha was lost in a savage hurricane off the coast of Florida in the year 1622 and remained elusive to treasure hunters for nearly four hundred years.
During the Fisher families search for the Atocha, treasure was found sporadically for sixteen years prior to the discovery of the Atocha. They recovered 43 gold chains with a length of 180 feet was found as well as thousands of gold coins and bars worth an estimated $40 million. The Fisher family knew from the ships manifest that significant amounts of treasure still remained undiscovered.
In 1985 two divers came across what they thought was a coral reef; it turned out to be silver bars and coins surrounded by wooden beams and chests of silver and gold bars.
An added bonus was hundreds of rough emeralds-over 2300, as well as gold artifacts and jewels.
One emerald ring sold at Christies in New York in 1988 for $79 000.00. The jewellery represents superb craftsmanship using several techniques popular in the early 17th century. These include early forms of modern casting techniques as well as chain making, engraving and stone setting that rival any seen today.
