^Lot 65 Large silver "splash" ingot, 96 oz troy (2984 grams), marked with circular tax stamp showing pillars

Large silver "splash" ingot, 96 oz troy (2984 grams), marked with circular tax stamp showing pillars and PLVS VLTRA, partially cut, ex-unidentified ca.-1554 wreck off Santo Domingo. Roughly 9" in diameter. Very thin, broad puddle of refined silver (XRF tested at over 99% fine silver, hence current melt value is over $6000), naturally poured without a mold, showing a rough bottom but smooth top with nearly full and distinctive tax stamp near edge featuring two pillars and the motto PLVS VLTRA under a crown, the edge somewhat irregular but with approximately 4½" of it tangentially sliced off in its time to make "small change," lightly toned silver color all over. Around 2007-8, coins and ingots like this one identical to those from the 1554 Fleet off Padre Island, Texas, entered the market from a shipwreck off Santo Domingo that had to have been carrying material from the same 1554 Fleet, either on a ship that survived the initial storm or salvaged in its time and lost again. The markings on the ingots are a match with those found off Padre Island, and are distinctly different from "Golden Fleece Wreck" ingots of ca. 1550. From an unidentified wreck of the Spanish 1554 Fleet sunk off Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.