Almost every piece of silver recovered from Playa Preciosa "Rawson's Wreck" no matter how big or small had this mark stamped into the silver. The Padre Island shipwrecks of 1554 also carried these marks on the silver they recovered. Ines de Soto is an unidentified shipwreck discovered on Cuba's NW coast also had these marks. Ines de Soto was determined to have sunk in 1556. Trying to name our shipwreck it would be helpful to understand at what time period were these "Kings Fifth" marks in use. Just from the two above mentioned shipwrecks we can say for sure the Padre Island ships would have had treasure on board from 1553 and Ines de Soto up till 1556. So there are at least three documented years Spain used this type of mark.
A piece of silver recovered from "Rawsons Wreck" with the mark showing the Kings Fifth had been paid
This image was taken from a book about the Ines de Soto shipwreck
A page from Weddle's book of the Padre Island shipwrecks
Of all the silver recovered from our wreck-site only one piece had the shell of saint James. No other marks were found. Does this indicate the shipment of silver was older than that of Padre Island? No mine marks or assayers marks or owner or purity marks. Just the Kings Fifth and one mark of the church.
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