Francis Drakes Brass Plate

An inscribed thick plate of brass attributed to the landing, in 1579, of Francis Drake on fhe coasf of California, is refained in safekeeping af fhe University of California, Berkeley. Since ifs discovery, in the San Francisco Bay area in 1936, however, there have been doubts about the authenticity of fhe plafe, although an early chemical study had apparently confirmed its authenticity. Regardless of fhis initial study, doubts about the origin of the plate persisted, and a new study, based on the composition of the brass as determined by neutron activation. X-rays fluorescence, and atomic absorption analysis was initiated to reevaluate the earlier authentication of the plate. The results of this study were then compared with the composition typical of brass from Drake s time as well as from modem brass, and if was fhen concluded that the plate was probably made during the latter part of the nineteenth century or the early years of the twentieth century (Hedges 1979). 

The Greek Bronze Horse from the Metropolitan Museum 

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Fink, C. G. and E. P. Polushkin (1938), Plate of Brass Evidence of the Visit of Francis Drake to California in the Year 1579, California Historical Society Special Publication, Vol. 14, San Francisco. 

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