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Metal Contents of Silver and Gold Ingots and Coins from 16TH-18TH Century Spanish Shipwrecks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Adon A. Gordus  and
Alan K. Craig
Adon A. Gordus
Affiliation:
The University of Michigan, Dept. of Chemistry, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109
Alan K. Craig
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University, Dept. of Geography, Boca Raton, FL, 33431
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Abstract

Neutron activation analysis of metal-rubbing samples from over 500 silver and gold bars and coins resulted in data for the silver, copper, and gold contents of the objects. The analysis of gold coins (from a 1715 shipwreck) minted in Bogota also showed detectable levels of the metal iridium (>0.002%) whereas gold coins from other mints did not. The presence of detectable iridium, therefore, might serve as a diagnostic indicator of early 18th century gold of Colombian origin. Data are also given for silver and gold ingots from a (ca. 1520s) shipwreck off the coast of the Bahamas and for silver bars from the 1622 Atocha shipwreck.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 605
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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References

REFERENCES

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