SA gets back pirated coins worth R3m

Published Feb 14, 2001

Share

A rich treasure chest of gold coins is on its way back to South Africa after apparently being looted by modern-day pirates who tried to auction the booty.

The 400 coins, worth about R3-million, are thought to have belonged to "Clive of India" (Lord Robert Clive), the British career officer chosen to drive the rival French out of India. But Lord Clive's personal fortune of gold coins plunged to the bottom of the sea off South Africa in 1755, when the British East India Co vessel Doddington ran aground off Bird Island, Port Elizabeth.

Though the wreck was located and explored by South African divers in 1977, most of his fabled collection of gold remained hidden in Davy Jones's locker.

Then three years ago, The Times of London announced the impending sale of more than 1 000 18th century gold coins. Hints that the coins had belonged to Lord Clive set off alarm bells at the SA National Monuments Council, as the wreck falls within South African territorial waters.

The sale of any gold recovered from the wreck would be illegal without a government permit, according to John Gribble, marine archaeologist for the SA Heritage Resources Agency (formerly National Monuments Council).

He said nearly a third of the coins would be returned, thanks to the efforts of the agency, the state attorney's office in Cape Town, the department of arts, culture, science and technology and the London auction house Spink and Son.

If the salvors had approached the heritage agency at the outset, he said, negotiations would probably have led to an agreement which allowed the salvors to keep a portion of the gold coins.

However, once the sellers were unable to satisfy Spink and Son about the origin of the coins, they refused to return them to the seller.

A legal battle ensued for the return of the coins, but with costs mounting to nearly R1-million, an out-of-court settlement was reached recently.

Related Topics: