Two things stand out from your post here Mike. One, you are misunderstanding what I posted,
I am NOT taking the position that those alleged silver bars and alleged gold bars ARE FAKES. Don't put words in my mouth please.
Secondly, you appear to be putting a great deal of your trust in these stories. Were you there? Did you get a cut of the proceeds?
How can you be ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that your sources are telling you the gospel truth? Don't take it the wrong way but I don't take stories like this at face value.
My point was that I sure do NOT know if those bars (seen in the photos) are real Jesuit-mined-and-smelted bars or modern fakes. I do not know how to tell without getting the assistance of some experts, and I for one certainly can NOT tell from any photos. Surely you are NOT taking the position that you could never be hoodwinked by a clever fraud?
Side point but the Franciscans arrived circa 1768, not 1783. At first they were not to handle the "temporalities" of the missions (and Indians by extension) but Galvez ordered them to take over all of the business affairs in
1769.