www.pcgs.com
Friday, March 10, 2006
One of the Andrea Doria’s undated Banca d’Italia 1,000 Lire notes certified by PCGS Currency.
(Newport Beach, CA) - PCGS Currency, a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLCT) of Newport Beach, California, has made the first known public inventory by series type of historic bank notes recovered from a safe salvaged from the submerged Italian ocean liner, Andrea Doria.
More than 3,600 recovered notes certified by PCGS Currency will be made available to collectors by Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California to coincide with this year's 50th anniversary of the ship's sinking.
A PCGS Currency-certified Series 1935E $1 Silver Certificate recovered from the famous 1956 wreck of the ocean liner Andrea Doria.
Star notes have a star in front of the serial number indicating the original note with that number was replaced by the Treasury Department, perhaps because of a printing error.
During a voyage from Genoa, Italy to New York City, the Andrea Doria and another liner, Stockholm, collided in heavy fog off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts on the night of July 25, 1956. A total of 52 passengers and crewmembers were killed, and more than 1,600 people were safely rescued before the 700-foot long, 30,000-ton Andrea Doria sank the next morning.
On August 27, 1981, during Hurricane Dennis, marine explorer and department store heir, Peter Gimble, and his team recovered the Banco di Roma (Bank of Rome) safe that had been submerged in the shipwreck 250 feet under the Atlantic Ocean for 25 years. It was believed the 650-pound safe contained First Class passenger's jewelry and other valuables; however, those items apparently were removed by their owners prior to evacuation or earlier on the evening of the collision in preparation for the ship's docking in New York the next day.
With thousands of U.S. and Italian notes from the historic shipwreck lining the wall behind him, PCGS Currency President Jason Bradford holds one of the $1 Silver Certificate notes recovered from the Andrea Doria.
When the safe finally was opened during a live television broadcast three years later on August 3, 1984, the sunken treasure contents were revealed: stacks of U.S. $1 Silver Certificates and Italian bank notes in 50, 100 and 1,000 Lire denominations. Gimble and his wife, actress and diver Elga Andersen, subsequently preserved and sold some of the notes in specially-made Lucite holders.
Rare Coin Wholesalers acquired the remaining notes and submitted them to PCGS Currency for certification and the first-ever public inventory of the remaining 3,606 notes.
"The Andrea Doria saga is a phenomenal story of a tragic nautical accident and a dramatic, incredible rescue of passengers and crew," said Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers.
"A quarter-century after the sinking Peter Gimble made a mind-boggling effort during a hurricane to locate and retrieve these notes encased in packets of mud and salt water, and then preserve them as treasure for future generations. I'm sure there will be considerable demand for these pieces of history with this year's 50th anniversary of the shipwreck."
There are 2,726 U.S. $1 Silver Certificates according to the PCGS inventory:
Series 1935: 5 notes
Series 1935A: 17 notes
Series 1935B: 6 notes
Series 1935C 68 notes
Series 1935 C* 1 star note
Series 1935D 224 notes
Series 1935D* 1 star note
Series 1935E 2,302 notes
Series 1935E* 97 star notes
Unknown Series 5 notes
Some of the 3,606 holders housing U.S. $1 Silver Certificates and Italian bank notes recovered from the 1956 shipwreck of the Andrea Doria and now certified by PCGS Currency.
"There are a total of 878 undated Banca d'Italia notes from the 1947 to 1951 series, the type that would have been in general circulation in Italy in 1956, and as well as a pair of North Africa notes," said Bradford
North Africa $1 2 notes
Italy 50 Lire 13 notes
Italy 100 Lire 7 notes
Italy 1,000 Lire 858 notes
For additional information about PCGS Collectors Universe, contact the company at:
P.O. Box 9458
Newport Beach, CA 92658
Phone: (800) 447-8848
E-mail: info@pcgscurrency.com
Online: www.PCGSCurrency.com
For information about the availability of the recovered Andrea Doria bank notes, contact:
Rare Coin Wholesalers
P.O. Box 3873
Dana Point, CA 92629
Phone: (800) 347-3250
E-mail: RCWCoins@rcw1.com
Online: www.rcw1.com