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This massive silver bar, weighing 1066.8 troy ounces of .999 fine silver, is an authentic shipwreck treasure recovered from the SS Gairsoppa — a British cargo steamship that sank during World War II.
The SS Gairsoppa, a steel-hulled vessel operated by the British India Steam Navigation Company, was enlisted by the UK Ministry of War Transport in 1940 to carry critical military supplies. In December of that year, she set sail from Calcutta, India, bound for Liverpool, England, carrying over 7,000 tons of cargo, including a large quantity of silver.
After joining convoy SL-64 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, the Gairsoppa navigated treacherous Atlantic waters without military escort. As the ship neared Europe, it ran low on fuel and was forced to leave the convoy and head alone toward Galway, Ireland.
On February 17, 1941, in rough seas and heavy winds, the lone ship was spotted by German submarine U-101. A torpedo struck the Gairsoppa, sending her bow-first into the icy depths of the North Atlantic. With its radio antenna destroyed, the ship could not send a distress signal. Nearly 100 metric tons of silver went down with her.
Because the silver was insured under the UK’s War Risk program, the British government retained legal rights to the cargo. In 2010, the UK Department for Transport awarded Odyssey Marine Exploration exclusive salvage rights. After extensive research, Odyssey located the wreck three miles deep and 300 miles southwest of Galway. In 2012 and 2013, Odyssey successfully recovered a total of 2,792 silver ingots, weighing approximately 110 tons — making it the largest and deepest precious metal recovery in history.
Roughly 462 of these bars were preserved in their original form and made available to collectors. The remaining ingots were melted down and used to produce commemorative 10 oz bars and coins.
Stamped with the ingot ID JZ0432, this bar serves as both a historical artifact and a unique investment in shipwreck silver.
