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Silver Ingot From The World War II Shipwreck S.S. Gairsoppa. 1,058.7 Ounces.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Ingots Start Price:6,600.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 22,500.00 USD
Silver Ingot From The World War II Shipwreck S.S. Gairsoppa. 1,058.7 Ounces.
SOLD
21,500.00USD+ (3,762.50) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2017 Sep 15 @ 23:56UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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During World War II, perhaps the greatest economic weapon wielded by Germany was the U-Boat. These German submarines were used to upset Allied merchant convoys transporting supplies to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Utilizing torpedoes, mines, and machine guns, groups of U-Boats known as wolfpacks harassed and sank over 3,000 vessels during the war.

One of the most expensive U-Boat casualties was the SS Gairsoppa, a steel-hulled cargo ship that measured over 400-feet in length, and carried cargo from Bombay to Britain. On February 17th, 1941, the steamer was running low on coal, and broke away from her convoy; a fatal mistake that exposed the ship to a deadly German U-101 submarine outfitted with a compliment of 14 torpedoes. The first of these struck and sank the S.S. Gairsoppa, killing all but one crew member, and depositing the ship and its contents on the sea floor, 4700 meters underwater.

The Gairsoppa carried a substantial amount of tea and pig iron to the bottom of the ocean; however, its most valuable cargo was 7,000,000 ounces of silver - $118,650,000 worth, by today’s standards. This silver, mostly in the form of bars poured at His Majesty’s Mint in Bombay, India, was lost until 2012, when Odyssey marine began what is now the largest recovery of precious metals from any shipwreck in history.

The present bar is one of the prizes of this storied wreck: a colossal 1,058.7-ounce leviathan. At .9993 fine, serial #JZ0463 contains nearly $18,000 worth of silver. The bar is an impressive piece, mounted on a lovely hardwood plinth, and bears the official stamp of the Royal Mint at Bombay.

This imposing reminder of submarine warfare will undoubtedly create a stir as it crosses the auction block.