1839 $10 Liberty Head Eagle, Head of '38 NGC AU55 Ex.S.S. Republic w/Box

      It is with pleasure that we offer for consideration this rarity from the famous shipwreck of The SS Republic. Such a coin is found in only the finest collections of U.S. gold, and would be perfect in a type set of U.S. gold or shipwrecked gold coins. If you wish to develop such a set, please reach out to AUCM for professional guidance. U.S. gold specialist David Akers writes, "The 1839 Type of '38 [Head of 38] is rare in all grades....Most known specimens are in the VF-EF range and strictly graded AUs are very rare."

      The ship left New York on October 18, 1865, bound for New Orleans  with passengers and a cargo of $400,000 in coins, which was primarily gold $10 and $20 pieces. The Big Easy needed hard currency after the end of the Civil War. New Orleans was a busy, thriving city, but due to the war, "hard money" was in short supply. It was on the fifth day of the voyage that a hurricane off the coast of Georgia prevented the SS Republic from continuing. That evening saw her hull leaking, resulting in the fire in the boiler being snuffed out. The ship stalled in the heavy seas, taking on water at an alarming rate. At 4 p.m. on October 25 she sank. All passengers and crew had taken refuge in four lifeboats and a rough and ready raft. Two days later, the desperate survivors were found by the sailing ship Horace Beals.

      Numismatic scholar Walter Breen writes, "the Secretary of the Treasury instructed Mint Director Robert Patterson to resume coinage of this denomination [$10 eagle] at once [in1838]. Acting engraver Christian Gobrecht prepared new dies. ... Gobrecht copied the head of Venus in Benjamin West's recent painting Omnia Vincit Amor (Love Conquers All) with slightly changed headdress but with the same triple beaded cord in her bun, and the same coronet (here inscribed LIBERTY).... In 1839 the design produced in 1838 was struck again, and later in the year the design was modified to the more familiar Coronet style that was used on tens until 1907. Thus, the year 1839 saw two low mintage design rarities created. ... [including] the '1839 Large Letter' type..." The reverse of this coin changed little from the motif being used since 1807 on the $5 gold piece (half eagle) except that the eagle's wings now reached from one edge of the coin to the other.