1859-S $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle PCGS XF45 Ex. SS Brother Jonathan

Only 14 specimens of this issue were retrieved from the wreckage of the SS Brother Jonathan. PCGS has graded 181 as XF45 with 400 finer. It was on July 30, 1865, a few months after the end of the Civil War, when the ship Brother Jonathan crashed against a large rock and sank off the coast of Crescent City, California. We remember the coins, but many souls were lost that day--219 to be exact. A fortune of material goods sunk to the ocean's floor that day, including $300,000 to $500,000 in cargo, 346 barrels of whiskey, $200,000 in payroll for troops at Fort Vancouver, and over $100,000 in cash and jewelry in the purser's safe.

Sailing card for the SS Brother Jonathan.