[NJARC] Billion Dollar Wreck

[Alex Magoun]

There is an enormous and carefully documented website by Martin Bayerle and
his company, http://www.rms-republic.com/index.php, that explains the
strong likelihood that S.S. Republic had a shipment of $3 million worth of
uncirculated U.S. gold coins.  These would be apparently 1908 $10 "eagles"
and possibly $20 "double eagles," although the researchers don't discuss
dates or types:
http://www.pcgs.com/prices/priceguidedetail.aspx?ms=4&pr=1&sp=1&c=65&title=indian+%2410.
In any case, the stated value of "billions" is based on current prices for
those dates, and typically the value will drop perhaps more than 50% as
150,000-300,000 coins are added to the supply for those dates in the higher
grades. Enjoy if you're buying for history's sake, but think twice before
anticipating handsome resale profits down the road; profits from recovered
hoards are usually a mirage for obvious market reasons:
http://www.amergold.com/library/specialreporthoard.php.

The fascinating part of the story is that the coins were intended for
Russia, which needed the gold to refinance its loan payments. It had
borrowed a great deal during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5, struggled
politically and economically since, and got the French to invest further in
a new loan in order to recoup their earlier investment.  When the Republic
sank, the U.S., British, French, and Russian governments blocked any
inquiry to cover up the loss and maintain international finance, as a
Russian default on payments would have upset the global economy not long
after the Panic of 1907 that J.P. Morgan et al. salvaged.
Even Jack Binns was effectively shut up, although it's not obvious that he
was in the "need to know" about the necessarily secretive cargo.  That's
one of the related fascinations--before the global credit economy, there
was an enormous amount of gold shipped here, there, and everywhere.  All
the more reason to cry hurrah for bitcoins, whose only drawback is that
it's hard to tell which pocket you put them in.

Alex
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