Gold Ounce 2023 The Black Flag Fleet - Fancy, Coin from Tuvalu - detailed information

The Tuvaluan Dollar is the currency of Tuvalu - a small nation in the Pacific Ocean. Tuvalu has never had banknotes of its own, and has been issuing coins since 1976; these circulate together with coins of the Australian Dollar, which is also legal tender in the country, and to which the Tuvaluan Dollar is pegged.

The Australian Perth Mint issues a large variety of non-circulating legal tender coins under the authority of Tuvalu. Some of these are in the gold ounce format (abbreviated as 1 oz). Strictly speaking, they are not bullion as they are priced at a premium and are targeted at collectors who appreciate them for their artistic merit and collectable value and not just for their precious metal content.

This design is the fifth release in the popular pirate-themed Black Flag series of premium bullion coins, and features the pirate ship Fancy.

Fancy was initially a 46-gun privateer named Charles II - after Charles II of Spain - in Spanish service. It was anchored at A Coruña in Spain when on 7 May 1694 Henry Every and a few other conspirators organised and carried out a successful mutiny and, setting the captain ashore, left port for the Cape of Good Hope. At this time, Charles II was renamed Fancy. After an overhaul, Fancy became one of the fastest ships active in the Indian Ocean, and Every used this speed to attack and take a French pirate ship, looting the vessel and recruiting approximately 40 of the crew to his own ship, leaving him with a total complement of around 150.

Every's career ended when the crew returned to Nassau in April 1696, in the Bahamas. He returned to Britain aboard the sloop Sea Flower, arriving in Ireland in June 1696 and promptly disappearing. Although the fate of Fancy is unknown, it was rumored that Every gave her to the governor of Nassau as a bribe. There is supporting documentary evidence that Fancy ran aground on New Providence and Governor Trott had the guns and everything of value stripped.