Topline
A ring made with an emerald that was lost on a Spanish shipwreck for four centuries before being rediscovered in one of the most successful treasure hunts of all time will come to auction for the first time in December, as the widow of a former Perdue Farms CEO prepares to sell the ring and donate all proceeds to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
The emerald ring could fetch as much as $70,000 at auction in December, according to Sotheby's.
Key Facts
The 6.25 carat octagonal step-cut emerald set in the ring was carried onboard the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a famous Spanish galleon that sank off the coast of present-day Florida in 1622 after running into a hurricane in what today is the Florida Straits, killing all but a few of the crew and passengers on board.
In 1985, diver Mel Fisher announced that a team of treasure hunters he led had uncovered the main hull of the Atocha, which contained a treasure of 180,000 coins, 24 tons of Bolivian silver, 125 bars of gold bullion from across the Caribbean, Mexico and the Andes, along with a collection of rough-cut emeralds mined in Columbia.
Late Perdue Farms CEO Frank Perdue, a member of one America’s wealthiest families who helped fund the expedition, was given some of the discovered hoard, and while he donated most of his share, he kept an emerald that he later had cut for the engagement ring he used to propose to his wife Mitzi in 1988.
Mitzi Perdue is selling the ring in order to give the proceeds to humanitarian groups helping Ukraine, according to Sotheby’s, saying her late husband would “share my desire to help those in dire need” (Frank Perdue died in 2005).
The ring is estimated to fetch as much as $70,000 when it goes to auction in New York on December 7.
Big Number
$400 million. That’s how much the Atocha’s treasure was estimated to be worth in total in 1985, or $1.1 billion today.
Tangent
The Atocha shipwreck was one of the most successful treasure finds of all time, and initially the state of Florida wanted a cut. The state claimed the wreck and had Fisher’s team sign a contract that handed over 25% of the treasure to Florida. After nearly a decade of legal battles, the Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that Florida did not have a stake in the rediscovered treasure and returned full ownership to the finders.
Mitzi and Frank Purdue pictured, with Mitzi wearing the emerald ring on her left ring finger.
Key Background
The Atocha was constructed in Cuba in the 17th century, when powerhouse Spain controlled much of the New World. The ship was commissioned by a Spanish government agency tasked with regulating Spanish and colonization efforts in order to transport goods, and was armed to defend itself against pirates and rival English and Dutch fleets. By 1622, the Antocha was departing Spain for the West Indies, and stopped at ports in Cartagena, Colombia, and Portobelo, Panama, where the ship was loaded up with the belongings of noble passengers returning to Spain with an armada of ships. The Atocha and a sister ship, the Santa Margarita, sank along the Florida coast on their way back to Spain.
