1857-S Double Eagle $20 S.S. Central America PCGS MS65 CAC. One of the things that the numismatic community has earned from the discovery of three major shipwrecks in the late 20th century is an unusual high number of double eagles in gem condition. While at first the number the ships have yielded can seem daunting, most of them were quickly dispersed in the collecting community. Due to increased demand from both collectors and investors prices have steadily been rising, and a gem double eagle like the present 1857-S is usually difficult to find. As such, this coin can be classified as a true find and an important opportunity for the high end type, San Francisco or double eagle collector.

Ten years prior to the year that this coin was struck in San Francisco that city was named Yerba Buena, and was a little village on the coast, far away from the United States in the east. In those ten years, however, massive changes came to Yerba Buena, which in the process would be renamed San Francisco. This would occur in January of 1847. A year later, further inland, gold was discovered at Sutters Mill, and the California gold rush began. The largest gold deposit found up to that point, San Francisco and California boomed overnight, making the settlement of the new state occur more rapidly than ever predicted.

Private Minters had been active in San Francisco since 1849, but the official Branch Mint did not open until 1854. In its first few years production was irregular, but by 1857 a steady stream of gold coins, mostly in the form of double eagles, left the Mint. This led to a total mintage of 970,500 pieces of the largest denomination struck by the United States. Some of these would be loaded as cargo on board the S.S. Central America, a ship which tragically sank in September of 1857. When the wreckage was discovered in 1987 a large number of double eagles were discovered, freshly minted and being exported at the time.

One of those double eagles was the present coin. Now certified by PCGS in a special holder, it is a precious gem, previously thought to be extremely rare of this date. Conserved after being on the bottom of the ocean for 130 years, it now reveals brilliant and very lustrous surfaces, displaying a very minimal amount of contact marks. A sharp strike adds to the desirability of this coin, as well as the excellent eye-appeal this coin has. Because of all this, it would be the ideal piece to include in a gem type set of American gold coinage, or a specialized set of double eagles from the San Francisco Mint. This coin has been stickered by CAC.