This 2020 American Silver Eagle bullion coin is in Gem Mint State condition, but your first reaction upon seeing it is likely, "Wow, what an ugly Silver Eagle!" And it is ugly. But that is because it has a story to tell. You see, this coin is a relic of a catastrophic natural disaster: Hurricane Helene. Starting on September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene swept into Western North Carolina and caused widespread damage and historic flooding which was even worse than the Great Flood of 1916 that affected that area. Many people died and some riverside communities were essentially wiped out. The story pertaining to this coin was related to me by my friend Jason Foster, an Asheville, NC coin dealer, who sold the coin to me. The story went something like this (and I'm paraphrasing, from memory): There was a man who owned property alongside one of the rivers; likely the Swannanoa River in Buncombe County. When his home was swept away by the floods, among his possessions there was at least one 500-count "monster box" of Silver Eagles, which was washed downriver with everything else. During the recovery phase after the storm, some volunteers were out doing search and rescue or recovery work and came upon the coins. Not only were these finders heroically lending assistance in the dangerous recovery work, but they were also scrupulously honest. They found out who owned the coins, and eventually returned them all. But the recovered coins presented a dilemma. They had been contaminated by muddy floodwater. Eventually one of the Asheville coin dealers who bought them submitted a number of them to ICG, which encapsulated them in special custom slabs noting the hurricane pedigree. Like the Silver Eagles recovered from vaults below the destroyed World Trade Center towers in New York after the 9/11 attacks, which were subsequently certified with special custom holders, this is an interesting piece of disaster history. Even if it's not very good looking. In fact, I chose one of the scuzzier-looking ones, since if you're going to buy a coin that was contaminated by floodwater, you might as well have one that shows it, and tells that story, right? Ex-Jason Foster, at the 2025 FUN show. This coin is a prize option in my giveaway, if you like it.
This 1877-S Australian gold sovereign 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.
Here are two copper cash coins (a 10-cash and a 20-cash), both salvaged in 1985 from the shipwreck of the Admiral Gardner, an East Indiaman ship which sank off the coast of England on January 24, 1809, carrying with it most of the original 1808 mintage of these coins, which had been on their way to India. The coins were struck for the Madras Presidency in British India. The 10 (X) cash is Numista-42953 and KM-320. The 20 (XX) cash is Numista-43218 and KM-322. Both coins do show some seawater corrosion, which is fairly typical on these. To mitigate that somewhat, they do both come housed in a nice information booklet which was produced by Rare Coin Investments in Berkshire in the United Kingdom. Ex-World Coins of South Florida, from their table at the January 2025 FUN show in Orlando. This set of coins is a prize option in my giveaway, if you like them.
I bought one of those hurricane ASE's from your buddy and haven't looked at it since I tucked it away in the safe.
Mexico 1634-41MOP 8 Reales, Philip IV. This coin was recovered from the wreck of Nuestra Señora de la Pura Y Limpia Concepción, which sank off the coast of Hispaniola on October 31, 1641. She was the Capitana (lead ship) of the treasure fleet of 1641 bound for Spain carrying treasure for the crown. She was originally built in Havana, Cuba in the 1620's. For her last voyage she set out from Mexico to bring the Crown much needed silver to fund Spain's war against the French and Dutch. She got to Havana, Cuba, set out and had to return after being battered at sea by a storm. The ship was poorly repaired and got caught in another hurricane off of St. Augustine, Florida. The ship diverted to Puerto Rico for urgent repairs but floundered off the coast of Hispaniola after running into into a reef. Only 192 out of 534 crew and passengers survived. There were coins recovered in the 1960s, and again in the 1980s and 1990s. The wreck has pretty much been stripped of all silver coins at this point. Though what was found was but the tip of the iceberg as a lot of silver was recovered in the 1640s by Spanish salvagers. The above coin was found in the 1980s Here is roughly what Concepción would have looked like.
Ok, I'll concede this is not about a coin, nor is it about a disaster, directly. It is about gold, and it is somewhat related to a disaster, a very famous disaster at that. They even made a movie about this disaster. Many years ago, 1986 to be precise, I was gifted a pair of gold cufflinks from my father. Dad received these links when his father, my grand, passed away. The cufflinks are 14k gold, small, and unassuming. Nothing extravagant, as you'll see in a few pictures below. I never paid much attention to the cufflinks, and to this day I've never worn them. I do like them. I do own and sometimes wear French cuff shirts (those shirts that require cufflinks to secure the sleeves). My fear is that I'd lose one, or both. And for that reason alone I haven't worn them. That was to change for my daughters wedding back in 2016. I chose a nice new French cuff shirt for that special day, with the explicit intent to don the sentimental gold cufflinks from my daughters great grandfather. My daughter had no knowledge of the special links I wanted to wear. In her thoughtful way she wanted to surprise me with a special pair of cufflinks of her own design to commemorate her day and our bond/link. Not knowing about or receiving her gift yet I retrieved my grandfather's cufflinks from the safe. First time I'd looked at these cufflinks in 30 years. I was excited to finally wear them. When I opened the box they are stored in I realized I'd never really 'looked' at them. Never thought to examine them, until that moment. There are two hallmarks on them. The most recognized is the 14K purity. I've come to find the other is the makers mark. OB is flanking the purity. A bit of research reveals the maker as Ostby & Barton. Now here's the disaster connection. Engelhart Ostby was a world renowned jeweler. He was on a gem collecting trip to Paris with his daughter Helen in 1912. Figure it out yet? Yep, Engelhart booked their return trip on the ill fated Titanic. Engelhart perished in the disaster while Helen survived. These cufflinks were not survivors of the sinking Titanic, but they are a product of the founder of the company Ostby & Barton. The story is told here. Check it out. It is fascinating. History of Ostby & Barton Jewelry Co. & the Significance of the Historical Titanic Collision My grandfather's cufflinks: The hallmarks: The cufflinks from my daughter:
Cool. I forgot there were some WTC Recovery coins that were not Silver Eagles or other bullion. Must’ve been quite the variety in those vaults.
Neat. That does sorta count. So which set of cufflinks did you actually wear to the wedding? I guess I know the answer to that one.
Rob, I know you know. Of course I wore the cufflinks my daughter made for me. <3 As for the disaster connection, I also thought it was neat, and quasi connected, hence my post in your thread. Although no 'on board' provenance and/or TPG Titanic attribution, the OB makers mark is obviously conclusive evidence of the Engelhart Ostby pedigree and, at least in my mind, an esoteric Titanic connection. Thank you all for reading my 'unrelated' story. I hope, if nothing else, it was at least entertaining.
I unfortunately don’t own any shipwreck coins. I used to have an El Cazador 8 reales with really nice details, but I sold it and used the proceeds for an undamaged piece. This is something I now regret as the El Cazador coins have continued to go up in value. As for other coins in my collection with a “disaster” connection, this Justinian follis fits the bill in a less conventional way. It was minted in 639/640 A.D. which was just a year before the Plague of Justinian began in 641 A.D. This event is less well known than the Black Death but by some estimates killed an even larger share of the population at the time. So this coin almost certainly was a witness to a great deal of tragedy.
I have one of these coins but this is just a image of one not mine. This is a 20 Mark coin from the Lodz Ghetto in Poland. Although it is dated 1943 they were not issued in the ghetto until 1944, about 20 days before it was liquidated and all the Jews remaining were put on the trains for the death camps. It is said that most of the surviving examples were found along the tracks. The people in the cars slipped them out through the cracks, because they knew they would not be needing them where they were going.
