1845 Great Britain Gold Sovereign NGC AU-50 Ex.RMS Douro

Here’s a great collectible coin for the enthusiast of British gold sovereigns. This piece was retrieved from the tragic wreck of the RMS Douro off the coast of Spain. NGC has graded 14 as AU50 with 77 finer. The search for the wreck of the RMS Douro and its treasure began in 1949 with a cryptic note written by Thomas Pickford: "Douro, 1882, £53,000, Bay of Biscay." Thirty years later Nigel Pickford found this note and began research. Ten years later, after research employing logs, newspaper accounts, reports, sea charts, ship drawings, and personal accounts, Pickford drew up a plan and presented it to Sverker Hallstrom, a Marine salvage specialist. Further research enabled the men to reduce the search area from 500 square miles down to 150. 

Two laborious years of work using different methods and equipment followed, with numerous wrecks mistaken for the RMS Douro along the way. One wreck stood out among the others, however, but there was very little evidence to establish its identity and confirm that it was indeed the RMS Douro. The men noticed a plate on the muddy bottom of the sea on their video camera. The plate carried the name of RMS Company, and in that manner the Douro was positively identified. Then the Deep Sea Worker, a drill ship, was used to rescue a large amount of plate wear as well as wine bottles and other goods. A climactic moment was when the cameras and other equipment discovered and retrieved thousands of gold coins from the muddy and murky sea bottom. The treasure was taken to England and officially declared to the proper authorities. It was one year plus one day later that the gold was released and four months later it was auctioned off at Spink & Son.

The RMS Douro was a British passenger liner operated by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company from 1865 to 1882. Built in Scotland, the iron-hulled steamship was known for its luxury, speed, and reliability, accommodating 313 passengers and 80 crew. It initially served UK-West Indies routes before switching to Southampton-Buenos Aires in 1869, carrying mail, newspapers, and valuable cargo like gold. On April 1, 1882, it sank after colliding with the Spanish steamer Yrurac Bat off Cape Finisterre, resulting in six crew deaths. Its gold treasure was recovered in 1995.