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 Replies: 8 / Views: 174 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11976 Posts |
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.comEdited by numismatic student
Yesterday 9:39 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6447 Posts |
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.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7363 Posts |
I'll keep it simple...............  |
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
11976 Posts |
Thank you for your kind comments. 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: 1857-S: 6,359 1856-S: 1,412 1855-S: 420 Total: 8,191 1841-P: 1 1843-P: 2 1847-P: 7 1848-P: 1 1849-P: 5 1850-P: 27 1851-P: 32 1852-P: 34 1853-P: 25 1854-P: 19 1855-P: 7 1856-P: 6 1857-P: 2 Total: 168 1850-O: 2 1851-O: 7 1852-O: 5 1853-O: 3 Total: 17 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.comEdited by numismatic student
Yesterday 11:18 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
18939 Posts |
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. MS65 I agree with Greasy |
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Moderator
 United States
196572 Posts |
Very nice!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
79611 Posts |
I'm thinking MS-64. Pretty nice coin!
Errers and Varietys.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2359 Posts |
Great coin and its history. Thanks for sharing.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1563 Posts |
Beautiful coin, I'll say a solid MS-66
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Replies: 8 / Views: 174 |
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Posted Yesterday 10:20 pm
