We included some of these in one of our previous newsletters and received a great response. So for those of you who aren’t subscribed to our fantastic monthly newsletter, we thought we’d share this with you and give you the opportunity to see what you’re missing out on.
Long lost treasures and sunken ships laden with casks of gold coins and jewellery are what many explorers’ dreams are made of. Although let’s be honest, who hasn’t imagined the day when they discover a treasure of that magnitude (and never have to work again!)
Our interest was first piqued after reading about renowned salvage company Odyssey’s recovery of a hoard of rare coins worth an estimated $500 million from a ‘mystery’ sunken shipwreck. We were so inspired (and envious!) that we decided to research other famous coin discoveries.
Here are a few that we found:
• Using only a metal detector, this UK treasure hunter found a cache of over 52 000 Roman coins, valued at £3.3 million.
• In December 2011, a janitor at a library in Germany made a surprise discovery when she came across a wooden box filled with ancient and rare coins, estimated to be worth “in the region of six-figures”.
• A vast treasure of gold coins, diamonds, gems and jewel-encrusted artifacts, reportedly worth $22 billion, was recently discovered in a series of vaults in a temple in southern India.
• This next one is more along the lines of a discovery of a South African coin that never actually made it into circulation in South Africa. The unique 1928 6 pence
• And of course, you can watch the video of Odyssey’s recovery here. Unlike the others, you’ll see that a massive amount of money and work went into finding, legally claiming and finally salvaging this treasure.
As a matter of interest, our own ZAR coins were never shipped overseas, so we won’t be coming across any shipwreck treasures of them or find them ‘flooding’ the market. It’s because of this incredibly limited supply and high demand of rare South African coins that their return on investment remains high, on average 17% plus, year on year.
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