1856-S $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle, 17B PCGS AU55 (CAC) Ex. SS Central America w/box & COA

The 1856-S $20 gold piece is well struck and the vast majority of them have excellent luster and attractive color. Writes Doug Winter, "The natural coloration on 1856-S double eagles is a rich rose-gold with olive hues." Take a look at the images of this example, and imagine having it as the newest addition to your collection! This is the Full Serif, Left S (17B) variety, and PCGS has graded 23 of them as AU55, with 40 finer. This beauty is housed in the exclusive PCGS Gold Foil Label holder.

This haunting image of a young woman was found among the wreckage of the SS Central America. Was she on board? Did she survive? Or did a loved one who perished carry her image with him? We will never know.

On the popularity of collecting Type 1 Liberty head double eagles (1850-1866), Doug Winter writes, "If I had to pick a single event as the impetus for the surge in interest for these coins, I would go with the discovery of the SS Central America shipwreck. I vividly remember the massive amount of interest these coins generated among collectors and non-collectors alike." There were 1,085 of this issue found in the ruins of the SS Central America.