Gold-Gilted Horse Stirrup Pictures

[ScubaFinder]

We (Anchor Research and Salvage, a Global Marine Exploration, Inc. company) recovered this stirrup last year from the Punta Cana Pewter Wreck off the east coast of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic). This ship has re-written history books on 16th century pewter trade and has delighted scholars and pewter collectors with never before seen examples of many early 1500's pewterers. This stirrup is made of iron, and then it was chemically etched so that the gold foil could be burnished down to form a mechanical connection. This stirrup was obviously meant for royalty, which makes sense because we believe this is the ship that was carrying the new governor and vice-governor of Cuba in late summer of 1555. It is well documented that it wrecked en route, Diego de Mazariegos Guadalfajara survived to take his post as governor of Cuba a year later, but Martinez (who was to become the vice-governor) perished along with his family in the wreck.

We got this stirrup in our last division and I put it in a very low-voltage low-current electrolytic reduction bath to loosen up the coral encrustation. Being iron based with gold and silver foil on it, conservation will be a delicate process but the end result should be quite stunning. I will update this thread when it is complete with some final pictures. You can see here that some of the iron is deteriorated, but only maybe 10% so we should still have a really nice artifact when complete. I attached a photo of a Pewter Salt Container that came in with the same batch also. Enjoy!

Jason

 

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[Darren in NC]

Awesome story. Awesome photos, Jason. You guys are running a top-notch operation, and it's nice to see it done well in our industry. I look forward to hearing more.

 

[vpnavy]

Outstanding Jason. Also, I jumped over to your site ( ANCHOR RESEARCH & SALVAGE ) - you have some super pictures posted Jason.

 

[kuger]

that is phenomenal!Thanks for sharing that!!!

 

[bikerlawyer]

Very nice Jason! Hey I sent you a PM today.

 

[ScubaFinder]

Brad, you have mail. Thanks for the comments everyone, we do have a great team of professionals here. It's nice to work with a professional salvage company that does the level of archaeology that we do on every project.

 

[BVI Hunter]

really cool!!

Give me a job!

 

[mad4wrecks]

Very exciting Jason. Nice work. Do you lose any of the gold gild to attrition during the electrolytic process? When you say low voltage/amps, exactly what numbers are you talking? Do you have the ability to dial down the amps in quarter or half increments?

 

[seeker41]

awesome pics and congrats to you all!!!
I was thinking along the same lines as tom. seems a little risky to me, like you might lift some of the gilt off?
chuck.

 

[Booty Salvage]

Your crew is performing top notch archeology. We see you guys doing big things

 

[ScubaFinder]

Tom / Seeker, gentle cleaning is the only possible answer that I know of, otherwise you are left with a pile of iron-oxide and some gold foil. :-) I have asked Dr. Hamilton at the Conservation Research Laboratory at Texas A&M what he would do if it came into his lab and we will work out a final method. Tom, our DC Converters are adjustable down to 1/100th of an amp and 1/100th of a volt, not using much more than that on the stirrup, it will take a few months but I'm positive we can stabilize the iron and leave the gold gilding intact. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see some scroll work done with a very small punch, this decoration is our saving grace because it makes a solid connection between the two metals. You are correct that if this was just burnished on, the gilding would likely come off as the oxidation and salts/chlorides left the iron. Even when complete it will have to be handled with care, but at least this way it will still be intact and beautiful. Time will tell, but after 5 days in the tank, much of the encrustation has already fallen off and the gilding has stayed in place and solidly attached.

I'm far from a conservation know-it-all, I'm more of a "read-it-all and have done most of it for many years", but this type of artifact is new to me (and gold foil over iron is not discussed in any conservation books) so we are blazing new trails with this one. Having an amicable relationship with Dr. Hamilton and the gang at the Conservation Research Laboratory is truly a blessing.

 

[Red_desert]

Nice find Jason....does look fragile to work with though. I've used simple RadioShack stuff for electrolytic process, but it only gives a high or low voltage choice. I suppose you could add a special gradual adjustable type voltage control switch.