Bermuda: 1997 gold 60-dollars, "Bermuda Triangle", wreck of the Sea Venture

Bermuda: 1997 gold 60-dollars, "Bermuda Triangle", wreck of the Sea Venture

NGC PR67 Ultra Cameo. Cert. #2900739-001.

Numista-15329, Krause-Mishler-102, Friedberg-31.

.999 gold. 1.0114 oz. Diameter: 35 mm (Reuleaux triangle). Weight: 31.48 g. Mintage: 1,500.

It's a "Bermuda Triangle". Get the visual pun there? This design won Best Gold Coin at the 1997 Coin of the Year (COTY) awards. It portrays the wreck of the ship Sea Venture, which sank in a 1609 storm at Bermuda on its way to the Jamestown colony in Virginia. This shipwreck is thought to have inspired Shakespeare's 1611 play, The Tempest.

I purchased this coin raw in the original mint case for not much more than the gold spot price at the time. When I submitted it to NGC I had them professionally conserve it to remove a few tiny carbon spots. That operation was a complete success. I figured this piece was a good way to set aside some gold bullion in a more interesting format than a typical bullion coin. It was appealing because of the deep, frosty proof contrast, the relatively lower mintage, and the unusual shape. Furthermore, it has slightly more than a full ounce of gold in it.

I affectionately refer to this as "My Gold Guitar Pick", though it's much larger than a guitar pick.

Ex-"coinnerd", via private sale on the Collectors Universe Buy/Sell/Trade forum, 26 April 2023.



228000

 

It never dawned on me to post it in Shipwreck Corner, since I only thought of shipwreck-pedigreed coins for that thread, not coins that portrayed a shipwreck.

Considering the rise in gold prices since I bought that piece in early 2023, I am indeed smelling like a rose on that particular investment.