Queen Victoria Douro Shipwreck 1873-80 Gold Sovereign Very Fine (Date of our choice)

Genuine Australian shipwreck gold!

A wonderful opportunity to own some genuine Aussie shipwreck gold, we have a small number of Melbourne Mint Queen Victoria Gold Sovereigns available – all guaranteed to have been salvaged from the Wreck of the Douro!

Exemplifying the genuinely international role of the gold sovereign – the ‘Emblem of Empire’ – there were many Australian coins among the precious cargo lost with the Douro. Uniting William Wyon’s iconic Young Head portrait of Queen Victoria with Pistrucci’s classic St George & the Dragon design, we have just seven Douro Sovereigns available – all struck at the Melbourne Mint. Historically invaluable and sought after under any circumstances, the added air of mystery associated with ‘shipwreck bounty’ makes these Australian-struck Douro coins particularly desirable.

In pleasing Very Fine condition, each 22-carat gold sovereign is set in a timber case, complete with a Certificate of Authenticity. With just seven coins available, do not delay your order!

The Wreck of the RMS Douro

A lavishly appointed iron-hulled steamship, favoured by the rich and famous traveling between Britain and South America via Portugal, RMS Douro embarked on what would prove to be her final voyage in March of 1882.

Setting off from Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Douro stopped in Lisbon before the last leg of the voyage to Southampton. Contracted to transport newspapers and mail, but regularly carrying precious cargo such as gold and diamonds, the Douro picked up a chest of sovereigns while in Lisbon.

Running behind schedule, the Douro was traveling at full speed when the Yrurac Bat came into view. Unfortunately, the officer who had spotted Spanish ship assumed those on the bridge must have seen her as well, which was not the case. The vessels collided and both sank rapidly. Fifty-three people were lost aboard the Yrurac Bat, with the Douro and six of its crew sinking 1,500 feet to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship – and the chest full of sovereigns she had picked up in Portugal – would lie there for over a century.

It was not until 1995 that the Douro and her golden treasure of more than 30,000 sovereigns was salvaged. Sold at Christie’s, the coins were dispersed around the globe, and Douro Sovereigns are rarely offered as a result. Following an acquisition from London, however, we are once again able to offer you the chance to hold this tragic history in your hands – over 140 years after the Douro slipped into her watery grave.