One and a half million euros for the Columbus shield | Culture
On December 17, Ansorena auctioned the original Royal Provision granted by the Catholic Monarchs, in 1493, to Christopher Columbus and his descendants, a coat of arms with a castle, a lion, some islands and their weapons, as a reward for their services, for a price of 1.25 to 1.55 million euros. The granting of this privilege to Columbus took place upon the return of the voyage of discovery of the New World, according to Javier López Serrano, of the Department of painting and ancient documents of the Ansorena Auction House.
On March 15, 1493 Columbus disembarked in Palos and went to Barcelona, according to the instructions that the Kings had sent him. There Columbus recounted his trip and discovery to the Kings, the greatness of those lands, the meekness, nakedness and customs of the Indians.
The document now auctioned is an original, the only representation of the first coat of arms of Christopher Columbus, an object of great historical value that was guarded by the admiral's family, as the discoverer left it in his testament of 1497. The document is the original manuscript that was issued on parchment of sheep vellum measuring 275 x 435 millimeters with a 43-millimeter wide pouch whose central part is hung with brownish-green ribbons that held the validation lead seal, which lack.
In the central part of the text, the main space in which the coat of arms divided into five parts is produced in polychrome. In the upper right is a castle in gold (for the kingdom of Castile) on white singing, and in the upper left is a rampant white lion (for the kingdom of León). In the lower right part are an iconography of the islands and a landmass showing the islands and the mainland of the New World, in gold on sea waves. Meanwhile, the lower left part in two. In an upper part five anchors are placed in gold by the Admiralty and below the arms represented in red on a gold background with a blue band.
The document shows the old folds that correspond to the wooden box in which it was originally preserved. The text that surrounds the shield can be considered unpublished, in the opinion of López Serrano, because to this document, which has remained with the heirs for 500 years, historians have not had access to it. "The Royal Original Provision has left twice outside of Spain for two exhibitions, one in 1893 in Chicago and the other in Washington in 1976. But historians and scholars have not had direct access to the original document, only to the text of the that is referenced in the privilege record in Cédulas Book, by Fernández Álvarez de Toledo, "the specialist argues, This is a kind of record that was taken from the laws and privileges granted by the Catholic Monarchs and found in the Archivo de Indias.
The letter of the manuscript is that of the privileges of the fifteenth century, of great perfection and regularity, in lowercase letters with correct use of capital letters, few links and abbreviations. The document of concession of the coat of arms to Christopher Columbus has been part of the Archive of the Dukes of Veragua and now of his descendants. These days, until your auction, it is guarded in a safe of the Auction House.
