The Douro Sovereigns, apart from their value as highly collectable items, are indeed a most exceptional discovery - they tell a rich and evocative tale, and are intriguing reminders of another, more mysterious 'world', far below the surface of the sea.

The day that shipwreck explorer, Sverker Hallstrom, first caught sight of the fabled coins, brought up from the undisturbed seabed more than a century after the Douro's tragic sinking, was to be one of his greatest. The elusive wreck had indeed seen many a researcher devoting long years towards her discovery and ultimately to the salvaging of her covetable treasure...

Among the handfuls of golden coins that, in spite of the impressions made by time and tide, still glittered in the sunlight, were some extremely rare Brazilian and Portuguese coins, dating as far back as the 1700s. The cause of much excitement, too, was the discovery by the salvage team of British Gold Sovereigns dating to the time of Queen Victoria.