Business Notes TREASURE

A 5-ft. gold chain fetched $319,000. A two-handled gold cup went for $275,000. The only treasure not up for auction at what Christie's New York called the most spectacular shipwreck sale in history was the $1 million worth of salvaged gold draped around Mel Fisher's well-tanned neck. He is the 65-year- old treasure hunter whose 20-year search for sunken bullion finally paid off three years ago, when he discovered the main cargo of the Nuestra Seora de Atocha, a booty-laden Spanish galleon that foundered in stormy seas off Florida's Key West in 1622. Last week Fisher watched as more than 400 of the hundreds of thousands of artifacts his divers recovered from the Atocha and other wrecks were auctioned off at Christie's. The $2.9 million raised will go to various investors in Fisher's venture who put the articles up for sale. "That's their prerogative," said Fisher. "A lot of the people wanted the cash."

To keep his operation afloat over the years, the often broke adventurer created some 35 different investment schemes, including one drawn up on a cocktail napkin. Last November six shareholders filed suit in a Florida court, charging they did not receive their fair share of the treasure. Still, the plaintiffs could take some consolation from the Christie's sale. A gold chain that belonged to one of them went for $68,200.