2016-12-29 Thu

An extremely rare 1705 Vigo gold 5-guinea coin was discovered among toys and sold for £280,000 by Boningtons Auctioneers on 16th November 2016. The coin was one of the inherited belongings of a family.

314 years ago, the British captured gold from a Spanish treasure ship in 1702 at Vigo Bay, northern Spain and minted less than 20 coins during the reign of Queen Anne. The coin was kept in a little boy’s treasure box with which he used to play “pirate”. The coin actually belonged to the child’s great-grandfather. The boy grew up and showed it to some experts to find out its real worth. His granddad travelled all over the world during his working life and collected many coins from the various countries.

The 1703 Vigo gold half guinea, guinea and 5-guinea pieces were issued for circulation. In 1703, similar silver coins were also struck in crown, half-crown, shillings and sixpence denominations. The coins have a usual obverse and reverse designs but the obverse has the word VIGO inscribed and added. The coin realised ($348,810) with the buyer’s fee.