The letter, written in Seville and dated 29 April 1498, was addressed to the explorer’s son Diego.
It has been valued at €21 million and is one of several letters penned by Columbus in the possession of Spain’s House of Alba foundation.
The Alba dynasty is among Spain’s wealthiest and most prominent aristocratic families. The eccentric Duchess of Alba kept it in the spotlight until her death last December after which, most of her fortune was divided equally among her six children and the foundation.
For some years, the foundation had been seeking the necessary approval to sell the letter, hoping to auction it at Christie’s in London.
Two years ago the country’s cultural ministry said the letter was such an intrinsic piece of cultural heritage that it should be protected status so it could never leave Spain. The family appealed.
But a high court in Madrid agreed saying it had “cultural, economic and historic importance”. The judges noted that the owners were not hindered from selling the letter in Spain, although they urged the foundation to seek other funding options.
The foundation wished to use the proceeds of the sale for the upkeep of the rest of its collection, among which are 20 other from Columbus. It holds that the letter it wanted to auction was the least significant of the lot as it had not been written from the Americas.
In addition to an archive of 22,000 documents, the foundation’s treasures include palaces as well as works by Goya, Renoir and Picasso. It says it does not receive any public funding.
