The SS Central America went down in a hurricane off the Carolinas in September 1857 with tons of California gold aboard, and this 1857-S Double Eagle came back from the seafloor more than a century later. The loss of the ship and its cargo helped trigger the Panic of 1857, and the recovery in the late 1980s returned a hoard of San Francisco gold that had never circulated. This piece carries the 20C Narrow Serif die marriage and the SSCA 0551 pedigree on the PCGS label. Few American coins combine a Gold Rush mint, a famous shipwreck, and documented Mint State preservation the way this one does.

James B. Longacre's Liberty Head faces left on the obverse, wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, with thirteen stars ringing the portrait and the date 1857 below. The strike is bold through the hair curls and the coronet letters, and the beaded border stands up sharply all the way around. On the reverse, a heraldic eagle spreads its wings behind a striped shield, with a burst of rays and stars above and scrolls flanking the sides. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA arcs above while TWENTY D. sits below, and the small S mintmark shows clearly beneath the eagle on this No Motto Type 1 design.

PCGS graded this Double Eagle MS-63, and the surfaces keep bright original mint luster with warm orange-gold color across both sides. Shipwreck gold from this source is prized for exactly that look, since the coins sat untouched by circulation and came up with their frosty fields intact. The combination of a Choice Mint State grade, the attributed Narrow Serif variety, and a numbered SSCA pedigree gives this coin a documented history that most pre-1933 gold simply cannot match. A welcome addition to any collection of Gold Rush era Double Eagles or treasure recovery coinage.

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