🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Gold cross with emeralds

[oc plumber]

Trying this in another forum hopefully is better suited here
Hi everyone ,first post here.
Trying to help out my father in law, he has a gold cross with emeralds in it he believes came from a Spanish shipwreck or possibly a sunk nazi u boat , I did some research and read about the atocha that Mel fisher discovered and the piece seems to very similar. It does not seem to have any id marks and comes with no paper work but my fil swears he has seen it before in a show talking about treasure linked to some sunken nazi uboat in Florida keys. Any ways was hoping somebody could shed some light/info or at least point us in the right direction. Thank you

 

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[oc plumber]

I don’t believe that if it’s verified to be old it’s not able to have high value, what makes a shipwreck find so much more valuable than an old piece or even one that was with paper work, paper work didn’t exist 100+ years ago , I just think it needs to be seen by the right buyer and with the internet you can reach out to the living room of almost every human being on this planet. I believe we have a lot of work to do to verify what it is but we are in no rush and I appreciate all the info I have gotten here. I will update with the xrf findings once I find a place here in Southern California that can provide that service

 

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[ARC]

Welp... Just for the record... My private thinking guess has been and currently stands as follows...
Possibly.... an EXTREMELY OLD... Spanish Mission era piece....AKA- "Reliquary cross"...
Which... would probably drop this between 1769 and 1833 arriving... not meaning its only that old... just when it probably arrived.
You said your in Cali... and there were 21 outposts there.

And yes.., this would in fact be... "Absolute Treasure"... and make it one of the coolest pieces posted on TreasureNet.
Here is a link in case you would like to read up... check the map and see if you are near one of the listed outposts.

Spanish missions in California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[DanMcG]

X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF)

Mechanical Testing Lab

www.latesting.com

 

[oc plumber]

X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF)

Mechanical Testing Lab

www.latesting.com

Rad thank you very much

 

[LandSeig]

Does it look like something was etched in the back, like a crown in the top of the cross and possibly a twisted rope or cloth in the middle hanging from left to right? Maybe could put some side light on it.

 

[Blak bart]

I was looking at the same features and wondering if there might be something very worn on the back ??

 

[godisnum1]

Trying this in another forum hopefully is better suited here
Hi everyone ,first post here.
Trying to help out my father in law, he has a gold cross with emeralds in it he believes came from a Spanish shipwreck or possibly a sunk nazi u boat , I did some research and read about the atocha that Mel fisher discovered and the piece seems to very similar. It does not seem to have any id marks and comes with no paper work but my fil swears he has seen it before in a show talking about treasure linked to some sunken nazi uboat in Florida keys. Any ways was hoping somebody could shed some light/info or at least point us in the right direction. Thank you

I would HIGHLY recommend that you reach out to Marc Anthony with Spanish Main Antiques in Saint Augustine, FL. He'll be able to give you the most sound advice.

Spanish Main Antiques | Saint Augustine FL

Spanish Main Antiques, Saint Augustine, Florida. 5,480 likes · 736 talking about this · 422 were here. St Augustine's largest selection of Treasure Coins and shipwreck treasure

www.facebook.com

Bran <><

 

[Blak bart]

Yes....he is an expert and a buyer....great idea @godisnum1

 

[Blak bart]

The extra effort needed to get this looked at, appraised, or authenticated, etc. Is going to take special effort by the op. As much as I would like to believe this artifact/treasure is authentic, and as hard as I wish this to be a genuine piece.....im still just a spectator here. There Is no one here who can actually verify or authenticate this item over the internet. It just dosent work like this. @oc plumber may actually have to do the physical leg work to the appropriate pepole/facility to get the official determination made. This might even cost a bit of money and involve flying somewhere to meet with proper experts. If this becomes to burdensome or is impossible then the next option is to dump it for as much as someone is willing to give. That sound stupid, but many take the route of, get what you can and let the next guy carry the burden of verification/provenance/valueation/authentication. The only person who can give the OP what he seeks.....will have to be seen in person, and probably paid as well. Unless one is trusting enough of the postal service??

 

[godisnum1]

The extra effort needed to get this looked at, appraised, or authenticated, etc. Is going to take special effort by the op. As much as I would like to believe this artifact/treasure is authentic, and as hard as I wish this to be a genuine piece.....im still just a spectator here. There Is no one here who can actually verify or authenticate this item over the internet. It just dosent work like this. @oc plumber may actually have to do the physical leg work to the appropriate pepole/facility to get the official determination made. This might even cost a bit of money and involve flying somewhere to meet with proper experts. If this becomes to burdensome or is impossible then the next option is to dump it for as much as someone is willing to give. That sound stupid, but many take the route of, get what you can and let the next guy carry the burden of verification/provenance/valueation/authentication. The only person who can give the OP what he seeks.....will have to be seen in person, and probably paid as well. Unless one is trusting enough of the postal service??

I agree with everything you said... except I would strongly advise against shipping/mailing this piece through any sort of carrier, regardless if "insurance" is available. To your point, you should only travel with the piece (ex. flying, driving, etc.) to have it evaluated & authenticated. And yes, it's going to cost quite a bit if you don't already know the right people or live in the right place. Hopefully they are able to do it though, as a "shipwreck" item without the right documentation is really only worth face/melt value, or at least what sometime is willing to give you and take a huge personal risk on.

Bran <><

 

[Emil W]

As far as trusting the postal service...

About ten years ago I sold a 16th century European gold, enamel, and pearl crucifix to someone in Mexico for $6,200, which was almost twice what Christie's estimated it would sell for at one of their specialty sales.

I mailed it registered mail. After over a week, tracking still hadn't updated since day one, which caused the buyer considerable stress--who could blame him? I talked to the postmaster on three different occasions, who attempted to track it internally but was unsuccessful. I stressed that although it was insured, the money wasn't the only issue--did they lose a historical piece that had survived centuries only to be lost due to incompetence?

A couple weeks later, while the postmaster was still trying to locate the package, I received a message from the buyer saying how thrilled he was that it had just arrived. It ended up being delivered two days before tracking was finally updated to show its delivery.

So it was a happy ending, but a stressful few weeks.

 

[FRRichard]

Priest and Bishops of certain religions (Catholic, Orthodox) wear Jeweled Crosses, as they are awarded to them after a long period of service. Just a thought.

 

[CRUSADER]

I don’t believe that if it’s verified to be old it’s not able to have high value, what makes a shipwreck find so much more valuable than an old piece or even one that was with paper work, paper work didn’t exist 100+ years ago , I just think it needs to be seen by the right buyer and with the internet you can reach out to the living room of almost every human being on this planet. I believe we have a lot of work to do to verify what it is but we are in no rush and I appreciate all the info I have gotten here. I will update with the xrf findings once I find a place here in Southern California that can provide that service

Just for your info.
It's not what you believe that matters here when we are talking about its best commercial value.
It's what the buyer believes.
It's not about the paperwork from over 2 hundred years ago that matters, not impossible when talking about known wrecks but rare.
It about the Provenance (of which you have none, other than stating its from your family & a couple of stories). Even if you, for example, had stated it was found on this beach, at this location, it would be better than nothing. The next step up would be the certification from Govt approved salvor stating varies things, often including the wreck name.
This is where it gets important for its value. Huge amounts of its value IS THE STORY/HISTORY. Your story has no value IMO. Therefore, at this point you can only fallback on authenticating it as a period piece of............... Then the experts can 'speculate' where it 'may' have come from. This route has a massive affect on its value, because it becomes just another very nice period piece of jewelry, & some will put that X factor on it depending on their own expertise. Therefore, its about find the right person with this specialist knowledge that wants an unprovenanced piece for their collection bearing in mind its limited investment value.

PS. Please take this as it's meant. I'm not saying it isn't a beautiful piece & has a great chance of being period, as well as a good value.