* QEII 2014 silver 1/4oz Britannia MS69 DPL made from SS Gairsoppa shipwreck

Elizabeth II (1952-2022), Quarter Ounce 0.999 silver Britannia of Fifty Pence, 2014, struck from silver recovered from under the sea from the S. S. Gairsoppa, fourth crowned head by Ian Rank Broadley, IRB below truncation, legend and outer castellated border surrounding, from lower left, ELIZABETH' II' D' G' REG' FID' DEF' with denomination in English below 50' PENCE, rev. struck en medaille, standing Britannia in flowing dress with helmeted head turned left, holding trident in outstretched arm, laurel branch in other hand resting upon emblematic shield, standing on rocks with sea beyond, NATHAN on rocks for designer Philip Nathan, all breaking inner linear circle with English legend and castellated border surrounding, BRITANNIA' 2014' ¼ OZ '999' FINE' SILVER', edge inscribed with incuse letters, S S GAIRSOPPA (S.BSD13A). Mint state, has been slabbed and graded by NGC as MS69 Deep Proof Like.

NGC certification 6321792-001 with SS Gairsoppa and Shipwreck Silver on the label.

We note as of November 2022 this coin is one of only seven graded at this level with only one piece so far graded as 70.

The Latin legend on obverse translates as "Elizabeth the Second, Queen by the grace of God, Defender of the Faith."

For further reading on this fascinating issue made from true shipwreck treasure of a secret World War II treasure ship see "The Metal in Britain's Coins" by Graham Birch, chapter 25 where the whole story is written up in detail about the ship and what it was carrying including £600,000 worth of silver on a voyage from Calcutta to the UK. Nearing the UK in a convoy at eight knots the heavy laden weight of the ship meant the coal fired engines burned through their fuel more quickly than expected and the Captain decided to make for Galway rather than Liverpool away from the protection of the convoy. The ship therefore was torpedoed on 17^th February 1941 and sunk in 4,700 metres of water in the Atlantic with the sad loss of 85 lives. The British Government first invited tenders to salvage in 1989 but it was not till 2010 that a tender was successfully issued to Odyssey Marine Exploration who later announced on 18^th July 2012 that they had recovered 48 tons of silver ingots from the SS Gairsoppa followed by another 61 tons in 2013 amounting in total to 2,792 ingots which was over 99% of the cargo, the largest recovery in history (so far) from a shipwreck. 550 bars went to the UK government to settle the salvage deal from which some 10,000 ounces were minted into these coins differing from other silver Britannia issues with their unique edge inscription and minted for both 2013 and 2014. The coins represent silver that was once a bar and spent over 70 years at the bottom of the sea in over 15,000 feet of seawater.