Sunken Silver Treasure

You can sell any kind of silver bar to get instant cash for silver. But we want to tell you about a very specific kind of silver bar that has a very interesting history.

Centuries ago when a hurricane hit what we now refer to as the Florida Keys, a Spanish galleon ran into a reef and sank. The ship, Nuestra Senora de Atocha, succumbed to the waters on September 6, 1622. The ship and its treasures resurfaced in 1985 when a company that specializes in salvaging found it.

What the found in the sunken ship was amazing. According to the ship's manifest there were one thousand silver bars aboard, including one hundred and thirty-three that were the property of King Phillip IV. These silver bars weighed between sixty and seventy pounds.

As was custom at the time, each silver bar was given markings, including serial numbers and monograms, to attest to who owned it. These silver bars had traveled a lot: they were probably originally mined in Potosi (now known as Bolivia), then they were taken to a port called Portobello (present day Panama), and finally they put aboard the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, headed toward a destination they would not reach because of the hurricane.

Atocha bars come with certificates of authenticity, so if you have one, there will be no doubt. However, you don't have to have silver bars that you can trace back to 1622 to have a true treasure. There is value in silver bars of all types.