100 tons of silver salvaged

GrumpyEd · April 14, 2015 3:32PM

They salvaged the ship "City of Cairo" that was sunk in WW2.

Some neat pics, 2000 boxes containing 100 tons of silver coins and most are from the 1800s and look pretty good:
(no idea why they were moving those old coins)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sainthelena/11536661/British-salvage-boat-recovers-treasure-from-wreck-of-SS-City-of-Cairo.html

Some more info about the ship:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_Cairo

GrumpyEd · April 14, 2015 3:33PM

link to article

Wiki about the ship

cohodk · April 14, 2015 3:41PM

Timbuk3 · April 14, 2015 5:14PM

Wow, cool !!! :-)

PerryHall · April 14, 2015 7:42PM

You can count on some of this silver being used to strike special silver bars showing this ship like they did for the Gairsoppa which was also sunk during WWII.

OPA · April 14, 2015 9:37PM

Interesting story....would make a great movie.

OPA · April 14, 2015 9:51PM

Interesting .... would make a great movie.

more info on the survivors

DrBuster · April 14, 2015 10:09PM

<< You can count on some of this silver being used to strike special silver bars showing this ship like they did for the Gairsoppa which was also sunk during WWII. >>

I would be tempted to get one of these if they do, depending on the format/design.

PerryHall · April 14, 2015 10:21PM

<< 

<< You can count on some of this silver being used to strike special silver bars showing this ship like they did for the Gairsoppa which was also sunk during WWII. >>

I would be tempted to get one of these if they do, depending on the format/design. >>

Have you seen the 10 oz S. S. Gairsoppa bar? It's very well executed and shows a very nice picture of this ship with information about the ship. J-M Bullion, APMEX and Provident used to sell them but they appear to be all gone. You can find them on eBay though but they are getting more expensive.

DrBuster · April 15, 2015 3:36AM

<< 

<< 

<< You can count on some of this silver being used to strike special silver bars showing this ship like they did for the Gairsoppa which was also sunk during WWII. >>

I would be tempted to get one of these if they do, depending on the format/design. >>

Have you seen the 10 oz S. S. Gairsoppa bar? It's very well executed and shows a very nice picture of this ship with information about the ship. J-M Bullion, APMEX and Provident used to sell them but they appear to be all gone. You can find them on eBay though but they are getting more expensive. >>

I have seen them, something like that would be alright.

ricko · April 15, 2015 4:49AM

The premium on such bars is usually high.... and holds for quite a while - depending on the popularity of the story. This is ok for that type of collection, but for stackers, price is critical. Cheers, RickO

PerryHall · April 15, 2015 5:11AM

<< The premium on such bars is usually high.... and holds for quite a while - depending on the popularity of the story. This is ok for that type of collection, but for stackers, price is critical. Cheers, RickO >>

The S. S. Gairsoppa 10 oz silver bars were only slightly more expensive than similar common 10 oz silver bars such as OPM, NTR, Silvertowne, Sunshine Minting, etc. when they first came out since they made quite a few of them. They appear to be sold out now and the ones I see on the secondary market (eBay) are more expensive but not excessively so. This new salvage involves 100 Tons and the owners could produce literally thousands of bars resulting in a fairly common bar that will be priced at a modest markup over melt value.

piecesofme · April 15, 2015 6:15AM

cool story, but why wait 2 years to make public esp. when a depth record was crushed?
I'm also curious as to why the coins were being transported in such bulk by sea, does anyone know if that was pretty much common practice to do of that volume, and by sea? tia

seebelow · April 15, 2015 6:24AM

melted down to sell...ok....fine....but will any of the original coins be offered to the public in general? what or with you would be a good place to watch out for them...heritage auction, sothebys etc? I'm not too familiar with the coin collecting community nor who the top 3 or 4 dealers that usually bring such collectibles to public/auction...thanks

GrumpyEd · April 15, 2015 9:47AM

The coins looked worthy of selling at least some as shipwreck coins with a big markup but they say they already melted them:

Already melted!

hchcoin · April 16, 2015 10:41AM

I love stories like this. Thanks!

hchcoin · April 16, 2015 10:57AM

<< Interesting .... would make a great movie.

more info on the survivors >>

Wow, it is amazing what the human body can endure when it has no other option and the will to live is so strong.

element159 · April 17, 2015 3:25AM

<< I'm also curious as to why the coins were being transported in such bulk by sea, does anyone know if that was pretty much common practice to do of that volume, and by sea? >>

Well, at the time, there was hardly any alternative! Shipping by sea is most always much cheaper than other methods, and if somebody had wanted to ship them by land or air, well, there was this war going on most everywhere between India and the UK. Even if it were possible to make some extremely circuitous air route (and it was probably impossible at the time, aircraft ranges were too short, being that all the stops one would need were occupied by the Axis), the air capacity was surely much more desperately needed for something more important.

TwoSides2aCoin · April 17, 2015 4:32AM

What a vast place…
… the ocean Sunken Treasures is about right.
But seekers of them ? Now that would be a mighty fun gig.

100 tons of silver salvaged

Comments