Where History Sleeps in Silence
Long before engines and GPS, wooden ships carried the treasures of civilizations — silk, spices, ceramics, and gold. But for every vessel that reached its port, many never returned. Lost to storm, reef, and time, their cargo became monuments to history hidden beneath the sea.
At Relic & Rarity, our Shipwreck Collection resurrects these forgotten legacies. Each artifact, lifted from the ocean floor, tells two stories: the world that made it and the voyage that buried it.
Whispers from the Deep: Featured Relics
Song Dynasty Terracotta Storage Jar
Recovered from the seabed of Southeast Asia, this robust storage jar once held rice or oil aboard a Song merchant ship. Its coral-like encrustations and calcified surface are the result of nearly a millennium underwater — a striking reminder of the reach of ancient Chinese trade.
Balabac Island Wine Pot
Discovered off the coast of Balabac Island, this terracotta wine vessel bears thick coral growths and rope-like deposits across its neck and spout. Once part of a long-distance voyage through the South China Sea, it now stands as a testament to the fragility and persistence of maritime exchange.
Sawankhalok Jarlets — The Silent Twins
These compact jarlets from 15th-century Thailand were found together, fused by time and pressure. Their subtle brown-green glaze and marine patina make them both archaeological and aesthetic treasures — perfect symbols of global commerce’s delicate balance between creation and loss.
Niagara River Signal Cannon
This iron signal cannon, once used to warn ships through fog along the Niagara River, is a rare relic of North America’s early maritime communication systems. Heavily oxidized yet proudly intact, it embodies the ingenuity of 18th-century navigation and defense.
Celadon Ware Bowls — The Ocean’s Reflection
With their jade-green glaze and symmetrical elegance, these 12th-century Fujian celadon bowls mirror the calm surface of the sea. Recovered from a shipwreck after centuries of submersion, their color now seems deepened — glazed by both kiln and current.
Copper Coins of the Tide
These 18th–19th-century copper trade coins once passed between sailors and merchants, exchanged across oceans. Today, they wear the sea’s patina — a green veil of oxidation that transforms currency into archaeology.
The Sea as an Artist
Collectors often ask whether shipwreck pieces should be cleaned. Our answer is simple: the ocean has already finished the artwork.
The coral, oxidation, and calcification are not damage — they are history’s brushstrokes. To remove them is to erase the relic’s final chapter.
Collecting the Ocean’s Memory
Owning a shipwreck artifact is unlike acquiring any other antiquity.
It’s not just about age — it’s about survival.
These pieces defied time, water, and entropy to reach your hands. They remind us that beauty endures even in the harshest depths.
The ocean remembers everything.
It guards our trade, our faith, our failures, and our triumphs.
And sometimes — just sometimes — it gives them back.
Relic & Rarity — Where the past resurfaces.
🌊 Explore the Collection
RelicAndRarity.com/Shipwrecks
