1856-S $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle, 17C PCGS AU55 Ex. SS Central America #2

This sought-after 1856-S double eagle is the Full Serif, Bold S variety.  In total, 1,085 of this popular issue were discovered among the wreckage of the S.S. Central America. Ron Guth writes, "Most collectors purchase 1856-S double eagles for their overall quality." PCGS has graded 530 in AU55, with 997 finer. However, in the rare Full Serif, Bold S variety, PCGS has only graded a total of 152 of them. Of those, there are 42 graded AU55, with 75 finer.

Commander William Lewis Herndon. United States Navy, who saw action in the Mexican-American War, was captain of the Central America and went down with his ship.

Coins from the Central America were well-preserved and expertly conserved before being graded by PCGS. Doug Winter writes, "The marketing for this group of double eagles ... was masterful and hundreds of serious collectors were created. The prevailing thought was that if someone entered the market as an investor and bought a nice ... double eagle from the shipwreck, by providing him with massive amounts of research and history it would be possible to create many new collectors ..." Before 2000, the supply of high-end Type One double eagles, such as the 1856-S offered by AUCM, was very limited. "But, "writes Winter, "you had a perfect storm of increased supply coupled with increased demand not to mention a rise in gold prices and considerable mainstream interest in gold as an inflation hedge among hard money advocates."