An Australian gold sovereign from the 1882 RMS Douro shipwreck

[lordmarcovan]

This recent purchase is my first Young Head Victoria sovereign and also my first Shield type sovereign. It also fulfills another item I’ve been wanting: a piece of gold with a shipwreck pedigree. The nice thing about gold is that it can survive seawater immersion for centuries without corrosion, so this coin has a straight Mint State grade with no “shipwreck effect” qualifiers.

The coin was struck at the Sydney mint in 1877 and was part of the cargo of the British Royal Mail steamship Douro, which sank in a nighttime collision with the Spanish ship Yrurac Bat off Cape Finisterre near the Spanish and Portuguese coast, on the evening of April 1, 1882.

All of Duoro’s passengers and 32 of her crew were saved, but the captain and five of his officers- and the ship’s treasure of gold coins and bullion- sank with Douro in 1,500 feet of water. 53 people aboard the Spanish ship also perished when it too sank.

The wreck was found in 1993 and salvage operations were completed by 1996. There were some 28,000 gold coins brought up from the Douro wreck. Most were gold sovereigns, but there were also some rare Brazilian and Portuguese coins.

I find shipwreck coins fascinating. I guess there’s the natural appeal of a historical gold coin here, but also some touches of romance, tragedy, and adventure. To me, it would have been a lovely enough coin anyway, but the added history behind the shipwreck pedigree made it irresistible, so I threw caution to the wind and did what I had to do to beat the competition and win the auction.



https://www.pcgs.com/cert/49106726

Edited August 18 by lordmarcovan

[panzerman]

Lord/ Congratulations on your recent acquisition/ beautifulll ex./ great pedigree. Thanks for historical write up.

 

John

[CPK]

Such a cool piece of history and a beautiful coin to boot! I'd love to own a shipwreck coin someday. Congratulations @lordmarcovan!

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Yes, I second the sentiments of both panzerman and CPK.  I found the background to be most interesting.

My only notable shipwreck coins are tetradrachms from an unknown Roman shipwreck:

[robinjojo]

That OP coin is a beauty!  The Roman provincial tetradrachms are also very nice.

Sea salvaged coins do have a character all their own, and can vary greatly in preservation, from eroded thin lumps of metal to coins with no or virtually no corrosion.  For the coin, it all depends on where it was located in the group of coins, the middle being the best.  Also, factors such as the salinity of the water, water temperature, storage (in a chest, sack, or pot), and the effects of the sinking, which can cause coins and other contents to be strewn over a wide area if the ship breaks in half, something that commonly happens in these situations.

Since I collected 8 reales cobs and milled coins in the past, as well as other world crowns, I've acquired a fair number of these coins, but I do not by any means concentrate on salvaged coins; that is a specialty in its own right.

Here's an Athenian archaic owl that I am pretty sure is sea salvaged.  Many years ago a group of these coins were recovered from an ancient wreck, and this could be one of the coins from that salvage, or another that was not documented, as is very often the case these days.

Attica, Athens, archaic owl, circa 480 BC.  Corroded and possibly countermarked.

Seltman group Gi

16.26 grams

 

Potosi 7 1/2 reales (revalued) Philip IV, 1651 E, crown CM revaluation.

KM C19.15

26.4 grams

This coin was salvaged from the Capitana (1654), sunk off of Chanduy, Ecuador.

 

Netherlands, Gelders, two ducatons salvaged from the Vliegenthart (1735) 32.6 grams left and 32.5 grams.

These coins were salvaged from chests, which help mitigate environmental damage by the salt water.

Mexico, Philip V, 8 reales, 1733 F, milled pillars and waves. Found in Marathon, Florida Keys, under an old building during demolition.  Purchased from Daniel Sedwick in the 1990s.

KM 103

25.6 grams

On July 15, 1733 a hurricane struck a convoy of nineteen Spanish ships off of the Florida Keys, sinking all but one.  There were many survivors due to The hurricane's lesser severity.  That, long with the shallow water in which the ships sank, led to the refloating of four ships, which were repaired and sent to Spain  Initially the Spanish were able to salvage a considerable amount of treasure, approximately more than 12 million pesos, following the disaster,   Subsequent salvage activities commenced in 1948 and continued until 1990, when the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was established.  Coins continue to be occasionally washed up following storms.

The coins and artifacts of the 1733 fleet have been salvaged in spots from Marathon to Key Largo.

This coin, found on land, under an old structure brings up two interesting questions.  Was this coin washed up in a storm?  Could it be one of the Spanish salvaged coins that got misplaced, buried in the sand?  While it is corroded, it does not have severe corrosion, which indicates that for a long period it was spared prolong exposure to salt water.

Edited August 23 by robinjojo

[MrMonkeySwag96]

1783 Spanish Mexico 1/2 Reale recovered from the famous El Cazedor shipwreck off the Gulf of Mexico:

Edited August 23 by MrMonkeySwag96

[lordmarcovan]

On 8/23/2024 at 7:15 PM, MrMonkeySwag96 said:

1783 Spanish Mexico 1/2 Reale recovered from the famous El Cazedor shipwreck off the Gulf of Mexico:

“Prime Select”, indeed!  That’s quite a bit nicer than most of the heavily corroded silver I’ve seen from the El Cazador wreck.

[MrMonkeySwag96]

3 hours ago, lordmarcovan said:

“Prime Select”, indeed!  That’s quite a bit nicer than most of the heavily corroded silver I’ve seen from the El Cazador wreck.

I’ve never seen any “Prime select” 8 Reales. Almost all of the “Prime select” coins are 1/2 Reales. 

[lordmarcovan]

3 hours ago, MrMonkeySwag96 said:

I’ve never seen any “Prime select” 8 Reales. Almost all of the “Prime select” coins are 1/2 Reales. 

Wonder why the big eights got more corroded than the little half-reales?  Interesting.  I’ve seen some acceptable 8R coins from that wreck, but yeah, almost all of them- even the nicer ones I’ve seen- do show some signs of sea salvage.

[JayAg47]

Shows the inertness of gold, given the coin is still in great condition despite being in salt water for more than a century! 

Here're some of my Australian gold:

My first gold coin, a 1915 Perth Mint sovereign

A 1861 Sydney Mint half-sovereign I got for spot price, probably a metal-detecting find

A gold nugget from the Kalgoorlie region, 3.64g 

Edited September 5 by JayAg47