Gestion de Activos y Subastas, a Barcelona-based auction house, will auction the original ship's bell of the Santa Maria, one of the three famed ships from Columbus' monumental journey in 1492. The bell, which announced the discovery of the "New World" to the crew of the Santa Maria, is the only known artifact of the history of the American discovery. The bell will be sold in a single item sale in Madrid on 20 February, at the Hotel Ritz, where it will be on display beginning 17 February. The bell has a reserve price of $1 million.

"This is the first time that an item - any item - from Columbus' Santa Maria has been recovered, and certainly the only one to be available for sale," said David Del Val Catala, Chairman & CEO, Gestion de Activos y Subastas." Its value is "priceless" but the auction results will give it a price. We expect it to sell upwards of $10 million."

The Bell of the Santa Maria was discovered in 1994, off the coast of Portugal, among the remains of the San Salvador by the artifact's consignor, Roberto Mazzara. Mazzara, an Italian diver, was seeking the ruins of the San Salvador, a ship whose journey to Spain in 1555 ended in shipwreck. Eight years of research by historians and universities have authenticated the ruins discovered to be that of the San Salvador, and the bronze bell to be the Bell of the Santa Maria.

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