This is my first Type 1 Liberty Double Eagle. Purchased it because it was the cheapest way to add another coin on the list of the '100 Greatest U.S. Coins.' It is #75 in the list that PCGS publishes for the Registry '100 Greatest U.S. Coins set.' It is #97 in the 6th Edition printing of the book titled '100 Greatest U.S. Coins.' It is also a spectacular looking coin in great condition, which would not be possible for a Type 1 Double Eagle at a reasonable price, but for the tragedy of the shipwreck of the S.S. Central America, which sank in 1857 loaded with thousands of freshly minted San Francisco double eagles 160 miles off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. The loss of 30,000 lbs (13,400 kg) of gold on this ship, with a value of $8 million then and $2.5 billion today, contributed to the financial panic of 1857. Hard to believe a coin looks like this after sitting for 131-157 years, 7,500 feet under the Atlantic Ocean. Tied to a significant historical event, great condition, large gold format, in the list of most important coins in numismatics, reasonable price. What else can you ask for? Thoughts? Thanks! PCGS 100 Greatest U.S. Coins: https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/fa...osition/1576
IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website:https://fairfaxcoins.com
So strange that there are thousands of mint state examples, including over 1,000 grading 65 and higher. The large population ensures many examples are available, at a price. This handsome piece looks like a solid 65. Congrats on acquiring this historic coin.
For the 1857-S Double Eagles, PCGS has graded: 65: 1048 65+: 70 66: 229 66+: 16 67: 17 67+: 5 Total: 1,385
For the 1857-S Double Eagles, NGC has graded: 65: 151 65+: 11 66: 92 66+: 13 67: 10 67+: 1 Total: 268
Gem graded 1857-S Double Eagles at both PCGS and NGC: 1,653
Not all of these coins were from the SS Central America. Much more than you see for other dates. The coins were submitted to PCGS by the folks that made the discovery and recovered the coins from 2 miles under the sea. These coins were holdered with a gold foil label that Adam590 shows us in his beautiful 1856-S Double eagle. Those also came with a book/presentation case with the holder. I don't have that either but it looks like the picture below. Many of these coins were cracked out to seek grade upgrades. Many of the gem coins in NGC and other holders were crackouts from the original PCGS submissions, including this coin which sits in a PCGS blue label holder. A previous owner apparently was unhappy with the original grade and resubmitted it. This is with little doubt an S.S. Central America coin.
The S.S. Central America recovery records show the following $20 gold double eagle dates/mm which eventually ended up in holders of all grades:
IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website:https://fairfaxcoins.com
what a great piece of history and fantastic story surrounding it. congrats and thanks for sharing not only coin but its story. the condition is mind blowing based on where it sat for all those years.
This was the TPG's opinion of the grade. and some videos that the seller shot of the coin.
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IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website:https://fairfaxcoins.com
Okay, maybe a stupid question, was every single 1857-S minted onboard the SS Central America, otherwise how do we know this was one that came off the ocean floor?
I've actually been doing some research on a family member that participated in the California gold rush. I came across this interesting article where the writer is expressing the frustration that San Francisco mint gold was being shipped east while garbage California gold continued to circulate to the detriment of the citizens of California.
Note, I blew up the article in question and overlayed it on the front page of the paper so that it was readable while also providing the name of the newspaper and date of publication. This edition also included mint production numbers also overlayed on the lower right.
Quote: was every single 1857-S minted onboard the SS Central America, otherwise how do we know this was one that came off the ocean floor?
The published inventory from the California Gold Marketing Group, the company formed to manage the recovery and sale of the treasure recorded 6,359 1857-S $20 gold coins. The SF Mint pressed 970,500 coins in 1857 so only a small portion of the nearly million coins produced were in the shipwreck.
For why I think this is a shipwreck coin, I start with the main purpose of $20 double eagles in the 1800s, which was primarily as bank reserves. People didn't use these to pay for groceries and it would have been dangerous to carry that much cash around in the street. Many high grade double eagles exist but these were handled mostly by bank staff, for counting during inventories, and transport from bank to bank. The SS Central America was transporting California and other gold to NYC banks to bolster their reserves. When this gold sank to the bottom of the ocean, it ceased to be handled. The 1855-S and 1856-S coins look to have been handled more as the coins had been around for 1-2 years, and only 4 coins survive in MS66 grade. The 1857-S coins appear to have been more freshly minted when they were shipped to NYC. There were far more of this last date and it appears in higher grades.
Grades over MS65 for liberty double eagles are extremely rare in all dates, particularly in the Type 1 coins. Most of the ones you encounter have dates in the 1900s. For Type 1 coins, the breakdown is this:
All $20 Type 1 Gold Double Eagles graded MS66 by PCGS: 235 1857-S $20 Type 1 Gold Double Eagles graded MS66 by PCGS: 229 All other Type 1 ex 1857-S $20 Gold Double Eagles graded MS66 by PCGS: 6 1855-S $20 MS66: 1 - SSCA 1856-S $20 MS66: 3 - SSCA 1865-S $20 MS66: 2
Many of the 229 1857-S MS66 coins are likely resubmits and reholders so this number is likely to be somewhat inflated.
97.4% of all MS66 graded Type 1 (1849-1866) $20 Gold Double Eagles are 1857-S. Why is this? Likely because of the SSCA shipwreck. Thus, most experts would surmise that, if an 1857-S $20 Gold Double Eagle shows up in a PCGS MS66 holder, it comes from the shipwreck.
IN NECESSARIIS UNITAS - IN DUBIIS LIBERTAS - IN OMNIBUS CARITAS THE MAN IN THE ARENA, Theodore Roosevelt at the Sorbonne Paris on April 23, 1910: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." My coin website:https://fairfaxcoins.com
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Posted 10/08/2026 10:20 pm
