Description: |
The Mother Lode is my third
design inspired by the story of the famous treasure hunt by
Mel Fisher for the sunken Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de
Atocha. On July 20th, 1985 Mel's team, after a 16-year
search, finally found the Atocha Mother Lode. Mel's mantra
"Today's the day!" finally paid off, big time.
The Atocha was the richest of
the 28 ships in the Tierra Firme Fleet that were preparing
to depart Havana, Cuba for their home country, Spain, on
September 4th, 1622. She was the military escort for the
fleet, so was responsible for defending the fleet from
piracy, both private and government-sponsored, which was
common. Not only was she carrying her precious cargo of
goods she also carried wealthy passengers, statesman, clergy
and a few slaves.
Unfortunately, the fleet was
six weeks behind schedule. Only a few days out to sea on
their homeward bound journey, the Atocha, along with four
other galleons in the fleet, were hit hard by a hurricane
and sank off the coast of Key West in September of the same
year.
The holds of the Atocha
carried the wealth of an Empire, consisting of gold and
emeralds from Columbia, silver from Peru and Mexico, pearls
from Venezuela, and gemstones from Brazil. Her astonishing
cargo also included 125 gold bars, discs and money chains;
24 tons of silver bullion in the form of ingots and silver
coins; dozens of chest of emeralds (uncut, with few
inclusions and a deep herbal-green color) and other
gemstones; chests of indigo, copper ingots, bales of
tobacco, and 1200 pounds of worked silverware!
A peyote stitch tube, worked in a spiral, represents the
Atocha's stash of what they called "money chains". These
were beautiful chains of gold, and each link represented an
average workers yearly wage. Filling the space between the
spirals, are five shapes, beginning with the cushion-cut CZ
center. This component has a simple bezel that is extended
to create a more "coin-like" shape. The next component is a
marriage of three parts. A beautiful flat metal ring, set
with Swarovski crystals, is bezeled and fed onto to a
Swarovski pearl stem that allows the metal ring to rotate.
The pearl stem is then extended and built around the metal
ring representing another coin shape. The last component is
a trillion CZ, simply bezeled, representing the loose
emeralds and gemstones found on the Atocha. All of the
components are confined within the "money-chain" tubes and
end with a beautiful Swarovski embellished metal clasp and a
beaded safety chain. |