Numiscollect, a European mint, have announced the second in their series featuring famous Ghost Ships, and comes after the first coin that came out in 2013 depicting the Marie Celeste. This has as its subject the less well known Lady Lovibond from 18th century England.

Like its predecessor, the coin is a 38.61mm, antique-finish, sterling silver round with some selective colouring on the reverse side. Unlike the Marie Celeste that was issued for Niue, this one is issued for another island, Tokelau. In design it follows the first coin quite closely and has some intricate and well designed detailing around the central coloured core. Ship coins are pretty popular, so we can see this having plenty of appeal to that market, especially in light of the uniqueness of the subject matter, a vessel we don’t believe has ever adorned a coin before.

Available soon from the usual Numiscollect dealers.

THE LADY LOVIBOND

The Lady Lovibond  is the name given to a legendary schooner that is alleged to have been wrecked on the Goodwin Sands, off the Kent coast of south-east England, on 13 February 1748, and is said to reappear there every fifty years as a ghost ship. No contemporary records of the ship or its supposed sinking are to be found.

The story goes that the ship was at sea on 13 February because her captain, Simon Reed, had just been married, and was celebrating the occasion with a cruise. According to several accounts, the ship was bound for Oporto in Portugal. Despite the longstanding sailors’ superstition that it was bad luck to bring a woman on board, Reed had brought his bride Annetta with him on the ship.

According to legend, the first mate, John Rivers, a rival for the hand of the captain’s young wife, was pacing the decks in jealous anger. While the captain, his wife and their guests were celebrating the marriage below deck, the first mate was seized with a fit of jealous rage. Casually drawing a heavy, club-like belaying pin from the rail, the mate walked softly up behind the crew member at the wheel and felled him to the deck with one crushing blow. Rivers then seized the wheel and steered the ship onto the treacherous Goodwin Sands, killing everyone aboard. A subsequent inquiry into the disaster recorded a verdict of misadventure.

The first supposed sighting of the phantom Lady Lovibond on 13 February 1798 was reported by at least two ships, the Edenbridge captained by James Westlake, and a fishing smack. Its alleged 1848 appearance convinced local seamen that a wreck had occurred – they sent out lifeboats from Deal in hopes of rescuing the survivors. Captain Bull Prestwick allegedly sighted her in 1948, and reported that she looked real, but gave off an eerie green glow. There was no reported 1998 sighting.

Source: Wikipedia