Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Rare Gold Coin found in Kids Treasure Chest

A rare gold coin, Queen Anne 'Vigo' five guinea gold coin worth around £250,000 found in child's pirate treasure chest. The coin has been consigned by a gentleman from Bishop’s Hertfordshire, England to Boningtons auctioneers.

Rare Gold Coin

The gold Queen Anne Vigo coin was given to the child by his father who don't know anything about the coin value. His grandfather give it to him for his pirate treasure when he was a child.

The coin is one of only twenty made from the 7.5lbs of gold seized from Spanish treasure ships by the British in Vigo Bay, northern Spain, on 23rd October, 1702 – exactly 314 years ago.

The man had no idea of its value until he recently showed it to Boningtons’ coin specialist, Gregory Tong, who instantly recognised the highly sought after coin of which fewer than 15 examples are known.

“My Grandad had travelled all over the world during his working life and had collected many coins from the various countries he had been”, said the stunned and delighted vendor.

pirate treasure chest

“He gave me bags of coins to play with (I was into pirate treasure) throughout my early years…As time passed these coins went back into bags and boxes and were forgotten about until I re-discovered them after my Grandad passed away. I looked back through the coins – remembering the stories I made up about them when I was small - and then gave them to my own son to play with and put into his own treasure box. My little boy has been playing with this coin as I did all those years ago.”

The series of 'Vigo' coins were made out of treasure captured by the British fleet after they failed to take Cadiz in 1702 but managed to seize gold and silver from Franco-Spanish treasure ships coming back from America. Struck the following year, the coins were made as part of an attempt to detract attention from the British failure at Cadiz, highlighting instead the haul of treasure they seized on their way home. The treasure was delivered with full pageantry through London and received at the Royal Mint by the Master of the Mint, Sir Isaac Newton.

The coin, only the sixth example of its type to be offered for sale in the last 50 years, is expected to break Boningtons’ house record of £200,000 set by the sale of a painting by Sir Winston Churchill earlier this year.

The Queen Anne 'Vigo' five guinea gold coin will be offered for sale at the Essex auctioneer’s Epping saleroom on Wednesday 16th November 2016 with an estimate of £200,000-250,000.

Source: Boningtons Auctions Essex.