1857 S.S. Central America, The Ship of Gold...
The Most Important Shipwreck in American History!

The National Treasures from the S.S. Central America shipwreck of 1857 are a snapshot of America’s most historic era, the California Gold Rush.

Salvaged from the shipwreck was gold in the form of raw gold dust and even small gold nuggets. There were also gold assay bars weighing up to fifty-five pounds.

For rare coin collectors these are some of the most highly prized gold coins from the Pre-Civil War, frontier days including mint condition $20 Liberty gold pieces struck in 1857 at the United States branch mint in San Francisco.

There's No Other Shipwreck Like This One
Several books have been written about this historic ship of gold– the S.S. Central America that sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 1857.

The most famous book is "America's Lost Treasure," a complete pictorial chronicle of the sinking and recovery of the United States Mail Steamship Central America.  Our thanks to the authors for sharing these photos with us.

This amazing steamship, truly a treasure ship, carried 578 passengers, 38,000 pieces of mail, and  literally tons of gold ingots, gold nuggets, and gold dust from the California Gold Rush of the 1850’s.

 Priceless Pieces of U.S. History Saved
The gold on this treasure ship are priceless pieces of American history. Many items are of inestimable future value– worth far more than ordinary collections of precious metals or rare coins. Many artifacts from luggage, clothing, bottles, and china dishes were recovered from the ocean floor after 130 years and moved to museums for safekeeping.