A pre-Hispanic gold bracelet repatriated to Mexico from the United States may be a long-lost piece from the collection known as the “Fisherman’s Jewels”, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The fragment, decorated with the profile of a spider monkey and two conical, rosette-like projections, displays stylistic and iconographic features associated with Zapotec goldsmithing of the Late Postclassic period, between AD 1200 and 1521.
Mexican authorities said the bracelet was returned through the Consulate General of Mexico in New York after being voluntarily surrendered by a private individual in late 2025. It was subsequently transported to Mexico by diplomatic pouch and formally handed over to INAH.
Experts believe its characteristics closely resemble those of about a dozen complete and fragmentary bracelets belonging to the “Fisherman’s Jewels”, a collection of pre-Hispanic goldwork held at the Fort of San Juan de Ulúa Museum in Veracruz.
“Each piece we recover opens new possibilities for understanding and reconstructing our heritage,” Mexico’s Culture Secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, said.
She added that the bracelet’s return would allow INAH specialists to investigate its possible relationship to the Fisherman’s Jewels, whose modern history began with a discovery off the Veracruz coast half a century ago.
A 500-year-old Zapotec artefact
Alejandro Bautista Valdespino, deputy director of INAH’s Registry of Movable Archaeological Monuments, said the recovered object is a fragment of a curved and undulating metal band measuring approximately eight centimetres long and almost two centimetres wide.
The piece was manufactured using lost-wax casting and filigree techniques associated with Zapotec goldsmiths.
Initial examinations based on photographs supplied by the Mexican consulate found similarities between the bracelet and pieces already identified as belonging to the Fisherman’s Jewels. Those artefacts were made from a gold alloy containing varying proportions of silver and copper.
Researchers now intend to analyse the metal composition of the newly returned bracelet. A match between its alloy and those of the established collection could provide stronger evidence that it originally belonged to the same group.
The discovery of the ‘Fisherman’s Jewels’
The story of the collection dates to about 50 years ago, when fisherman Raúl Hurtado Hernández was diving for octopus among coral formations at Río Medio, near Veracruz.
According to INAH, Hurtado spotted a golden glimmer beneath the water and later recovered a number of metal objects from the site.
Several pieces were reportedly sold and subsequently melted down by local jewellers before authorities became aware of the discovery. The remaining artefacts in Hurtado’s possession were confiscated and eventually became part of the collection known as the Fisherman’s Jewels.
Bautista Valdespino said it was plausible that the newly repatriated bracelet was among the objects sold before the authorities intervened and that it was later illegally taken to the United States.
The theory has not yet been conclusively established, however, and further scientific analysis will be required to determine whether the bracelet can be linked to the collection.
Possible connection to Spanish colonial looting
The origins of the Fisherman’s Jewels may stretch back to the first years of Spanish colonial rule in Mexico.
Researchers examining the newly returned bracelet have drawn on previous work by Edith Ortiz Díaz of the Institute of Anthropological Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Using 16th-century historical accounts alongside archaeological evidence, Ortiz Díaz has investigated the possibility that the gold objects originated in the Sierra Norte region of Oaxaca, an area associated with Zapotec expansion and known for its gold deposits.
Her research connects the collection to Diego de Figueroa, a Spanish conquistador active in Oaxaca during the 1520s.
Around 1526 or 1527, Figueroa founded Villa Alta de San Ildefonso de los Zapotecas. Historical accounts cited by researchers indicate that, following a dispute in which he was wounded, Figueroa began plundering the tombs of Indigenous Zapotec elites in search of gold that he could take back to Spain.
His attempt to transport the treasure across the Atlantic apparently failed when his ship sank after leaving the port of Veracruz.
Ortiz Díaz has proposed that the objects later recovered as the Fisherman’s Jewels may have formed part of the treasure looted by Figueroa before the shipwreck.
The proposed Oaxaca connection is supported not only by historical sources and the objects’ iconography, but also by scientific studies of the collection. Chemical analysis, fluorescence measurements and microscopic examinations have previously been used to establish the manufacturing techniques and proportions of gold, silver and copper found in individual pieces.
Researchers will now subject the repatriated bracelet to comparable analysis.
If its metal composition and manufacturing characteristics correspond with those of the established Fisherman’s Jewels, the results could strengthen the case that the fragment is a surviving piece of a collection that was looted nearly five centuries ago, lost at sea and partially rediscovered by chance in the 20th century.
Sources : INAH