This exceptional 1879 gold Sovereign from the Melbourne mint is a remarkable piece of numismatic history. Struck during Queen Victoria's reign (1837-1901), it features the third young head portrait of the monarch facing left, with the initials W.W. raised on the truncation, denoting the engraver William Wyon. The obverse also includes the mint letter M below the bust, indicating its Melbourne origin.

The obverse Latin legend reads "VICTORIA D: G: BRITANNIAR: REG: F: D:", which translates to "Victoria by the Grace of God, Queen of the Britains, Defender of the Faith". The reverse showcases Benedetto Pistrucci's iconic design of St. George slaying the dragon, with the date in the exergue and B.P. to the upper right, representing the designer's initials.

This Sovereign weighs 7.98 grams and is struck in 22 carat gold (0.9167 fineness), containing 0.2354 troy ounces of pure gold. The calendar year mintage for 1879 Melbourne Sovereigns was 2,740,594.

The Royal Mail Steamer Douro sank in 1,500 feet of water after colliding with the Spanish steamer Yrurac Bat at 4am on the 2^nd April 1882 in the Bay of Biscay off Cape Finisterre. The Douro built in 1865 was a popular choice of those first-class passengers who liked to travel from South America to England via Portugal. The Douro was on the final leg of her journey en route to Southampton when tragedy struck. The Chief Officer had not noticed the light of the approaching Spanish ship until it was too late to take evasive action, and the Yrurac Bat struck the Douro hard on the starboard area near the mainmast and rebounded, and as the engines were still running hard, she ploughed forward again striking the Douro a second time in the aft. The Yrurac Bat lost 30 men and all survivors of which the Douro's were mainly the women and the children, were picked up by the ship Hidalgo of Hull and landed at Corunna.

Moving forward 111 years, the wreck was at last located in 1993 after marine researcher Nigel Pickford spent ten years researching the Douro, its cargo and whereabouts after being left a cryptic note by his Father dating back to 1949 merely saying "Douro, 1882, £53,000, Bay of Biscay." The Deepsea Worker Salvage team led by Sverker Hallstrom recovered much of the cargo culminating in what was the most valuable coin auction that Spink and Son had ever held as of 1996 with 1,713 lots of coins and artefacts from the ship. Some 28,000 Sovereigns were recovered from the wreck with a proportion appearing in the auction sale, the remainder gradually found their way into the marketplace in the succeeding decade by private treaty.

This coin seems to be one of the greater proportion of coins that came up privately for sale after the 1996 Spink auction  

This specific coin has been graded by NGC as AU58, indicating its high state of preservation despite its underwater adventure. It retains some of its original copper hues on both sides, with only a few contact marks visible.

The 1879 Melbourne Sovereign represents a fascinating intersection of British colonial history, numismatics, and maritime archaeology. Its connection to the Douro shipwreck adds an extra layer of historical significance, making it a prized possession for collectors of both coins and shipwreck artefacts.

NGC Certification 6946764-004