Gold Coin 5 Oz Titanic 100th Anniversary 2012 Proof

Five Ounce Golden Titanic - 100th Anniversary

An exclusive gold coloured coin issued by the British Virgin Islands in 2012 and minted by the Pobjoy Mint in England weighing 5 Oz (155.5 g) to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic.

The coin features a coloured Titanic at sea on its reverse, with a portrait of the ship's captain above the coin with the inscription "EDWARD J. SMITH", followed by the inscriptions "RMS TITANIC 1912 - 2012" and the face value.

The obverse shows the traditional portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, the inscriptions "BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS", "QUEEN ELIZABETH II" and the year of issue.

The coin comes with a numbered certificate of authenticity in a luxury lacquered mahogany box in a very limited edition of only 99 pieces for the whole world!

Titanic

The RMS (from the English Royal Mail Steamer) Titanic was a luxury liner of the White Star Line that was wrecked during her maiden voyage on the night of 14-15 April 1912. 1,517 passengers and crew members perished. The Titanic's destruction is one of the most famous maritime disasters.

The Titanic was built in Belfast at the Harland & Wolff shipyards for the White Star Line, as the second of a series of three ships of similar characteristics (alongside the Olympica and Britannic). The ship's chief designer was Thomas Andrews, considered to be the absolute leader in his field. The best materials and the best technology available at the time were used to build the ship.

Titanic was 269.1 metres long and 28.25 metres wide, had a gross tonnage of 46,328 GRT and a displacement of 52,310 tonnes at maximum draught (10.54 m). It was slightly larger than the Olympic and therefore represented the largest naval vessel ever built. Its hull was divided into 16 watertight chambers and the bottom of the ship was doubled. Overall, Titanic was considered one of the safest ships in the world, even unsinkable.

This conjecture was supported by the trade magazine Shipbuilder, which wrote that "when the watertight doors are closed, the ship becomes virtually unsinkable. The ship was to be able to withstand even the simultaneous breaching of the first 4 watertight chambers, which was already quite unimaginable given its size. 29 steam boilers in 6 separate boiler rooms powered 2 reciprocating steam engines (15,000 hp each) and a turbine (16,000 hp).The ship had three propellers (the middle one weighed 22 tons, the outermost weighed 38 tons), and the maximum speed of the ship was estimated at 24 knots (Titanic never sailed it). Smoke from the boilers was discharged into three true funnels. In addition to these, a false chimney was installed aft to serve as the main ventilation outlet and the galley chimney. With four funnels, the ship looked larger and gave a greater impression of safety.

Titanic's role was to carry passengers (capacity was just over 2,450 passengers, there was also space for a limited number of carriages and cars (and a crane to load them) and mail between Europe and North America, on which route she was to compete with the Cunard Line's giant steamers, the Mauretania and the Lusitania. The ship was manned by 885 crew.