Ek Matanceros

[Karenej]

El Matanceros

Hello... I am a new member and found this forum searching for El Matanceros artifact information. I have one of the crosses from the ship and many small white, blue and black tiny beads (I spent hours sifting sand for these little beads!) as well as a few pieces of metal and some coloured gems. Sadly the beach is no longer available to dig as a hotel now sits on the land adjacent to where the ship went down. I am interested in a value to these relics if anyone has any information. Thank you.
Karen

 

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[Salvor6]

Hello Karen. Welcome to Treasure Net. Can you post pictures of your artifacts? It is difficult to estimate their value without seeing it.

 

[Karenej]

I could email to you!

 

[Karenej]

Wow I do not know how those two arrived. I have four more I could email!������

 

[Salvor6]

Karen emailed me more pics to post:

 

[angelito1]

welcome to tnet…………………………………………………………….

 

[Salvor6]

Three more pics. I told Karen to get in touch with Daniel Sedgewick.

 

[agflit]

Karen-

Welcome to T-net!! That's actually quite a collection of artifacts you have!! As far as valuation, I can only suggest you contact an appropriate professional to determine some kind of appraisal valuation...you may well be surprised!

I'm not sure how familiar you are with the history of the ship...so I'll give you alittle background. You may already have done some research, but if you havn't, here's alittle background for you...

According to the archives in Spain this frigate class Spanish merchant ship was officially called Nuestra Señora de los Milagros (Our Lady of Miracles) and was sailing near the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan on February 22, 1741 when it crashed into the coral reefs just offshore. She was 73 feet in length, with a keel of 60 feet, a beam of 20 feet and a draft of about 10 feet, and like most merchant ships of her time she was armed. She carried 16 small iron cannons and four swivel guns.
Captain Juan Bacaro and a crew of 69 set sail from Cadiz on November 30, 1740 with a ship packed full of the kind of goods that would fetch enormous prices when sold in the colonial port of Vera Cruz. Her cargo consisted of both registered and un-registered items, a common practice during her time. The registered cargo included an uninteresting and bulky 100 tons of pig iron, and 25 tons of tempered steel wire. Along with the heavy metal was another 50 tons of saleable household goods consisting of knives, spoons scissors, needles, buttons, buckles, writing quills, paper and glassware, window glass, walnut and almond oil, lavender and hand tools. Also listed were 750 barrels, 400 casks, 204 cases, and 21,200 bottles of brandy and wine. At least part of the unregistered cargo was known to be bales of English cloth and clothing.
The most notable recovered artifacts from the wreck are its cannons (several of which point out to sea at the entrance to Akumal Bay) and a large quantity of necklace crucifixes of different sizes and styles. Also recovered over the years are thousands of glass beads (usually clear or blue), brass belt buckles, coins and some gems.
The reason why the ship was wrecked has never been absolutely determined despite a sizable amount of archived records about the ship and her sinking. There is no record of severe regional storms at the time and nothing in the extensive British Admiralty records mentioning any attacks from Royal Navy ships. It is speculated that Captain Juan Bacaro decided to set a course to sail between the island of Cozumel and the mainland to avoid any British privateers or warships of the Royal Navy that might have been in the area.
Robert Marx spent an entire summer excavating and salvaging the site in the late 1950's....there is an account of that operation in his book " Treasure Lost at Sea". He evidently recovered quite abit of trade goods... yours seem very similar to some of his documented recoverys!!

Just an heads up...it was VERY common in the day to carry personal riches as undocumented cargo.... I would suggest it's entirely possible that some of the valuables aboard may have been gold, silver, gems and jewelry...

Best of luck, and best wishes...

ag

 

[stevemc]

Wow! Some very nice finds! Beautiful!

 

[enrada]

Can I assume you made some of the jewelry in the top left out of the beads you found? When did women start using that style of attachment to their ears? Also did you find the jewelry box? Either way very good detective work to see beads that small in the sand!

 

[Karenej]

Yes, I made the necklace, bracelet and the ugly earrings. I have never worn them. LOL No, the jewellery box came from a flea market in Mexico. The small glass beads were hard to find. I had to sift sand twice into large buckets, get rid of larger pieces of coral, then sift again. After final sift, I took them home, spread on a table in the sun, let sand dry and then with magnifiers on my nose, I searched for the beads slowly. The white ones were the hardest to find. It as all a great deal of fun over many years.!!! Thanks for your compliments.

 

[xaos]

Im sorry, did you say where this was found?

 

[Karenej]

The El Matanceros hit the reefs and sunk in 1741 just off the coast south of Akumal, (theYucatan), Mexico. Read one of the previous comments for a little more detail. Posted by ‘Agflit’.

 

[gus]

First off go to a library and check out book diving for pleasure and treasure by clay Blair it’s out of print but the story of the salvage by cedam de Mexico and Bob Marx. Thousands of artifacts like yours have been found over the years so doubt someone familiar with the site would Call them valuable but they are nice nevertheless. Cedam museum has or had lots of artifacts from the site though the collection seems to be smaller nowadays I think it’s now in akumal

 

[Karenej]

Thanks for your comments. I have the book and have been to the Cedam museum as well. I live in Paamul every winter for many years. I would like to sell these artifacts. I just cannot determine a fair price. Any idea?

 

[gus]

It really ask John e at the dive shop for ideas

 

[Karenej]

Yes I will do that. Thanks��

 

[capt dom]

i will trade you two documented silver 8 reales from our Jupiter Shipwreck Site for them.
They will be grade III Good to very Good Potosi, Assayer E Pillar and Wave Variety specimens with Certificates of Authenticity
P.M. me if you are interested.

 

[Karenej]

Thanks for the offer Capt. Dom for your pieces of eight. I am more interested in selling.

 

[Boatlode]

Beautiful finds.

It's hard to put a monetary value on historic artifacts like those. You could pick any number, but in reality they are worth whatever someone is willing to pay for them. For this reason a lot of treasure is sold at auction.

Lots of people sell treasure on Ebay. That way the market determines the value. I would break up the collection into several representative lots and offer them for sale one at a time. The nicest items like the crucifix and jewelry box should be auctioned individually.

Good luck!