1838 Eagle (1838 $10) Republic, NGC AU55. Luster shimmers from the devices of this shipwrecked 1838 eagle. There are a few contact marks on Libertys face and both fields and a few on the shield as well. Slight wear is seen on the high points of both sides in keeping with the grade of AU55. The strike is full and sharp, especially so on the reverse. The coin is Christian Gobrechts Coronet, No Motto design. It shows Liberty facing to the left, perhaps the West or towards the frontier, wearing a coronet inscribed with LIBERTY instead of a cap.

Her hair is tied in the back with beads, and two long curls fall down, one on the back of her neck and one below her ear. The reverse shows the corrected heraldic eagle, arrows in the left claw and olive branch in the right. The previous design had them mixed up causing confusing war-like symbolism. Gobrecht also removed the stars and clouds above the eagle and added the denomination TEN D. below. Previous eagles lacked this information because they were thought of as bullion and were valued by their weight and precious metal content as was the case with the European coins that circulated and were accepted in the United States.

During the California Gold Rush, the S.S. Republic, then called the Tennessee, was used to transport miners to the shores of Panama and Nicaragua to travel to the California gold fields. For several years the ship was used to transport immigrants to the United States from Mexico. When the Civil War began, the ship was docked in New Orleans. She was seized by the Confederates and used as a blockade runner. After the capture of New Orleans by the North, she became the flagship of Admiral Farragut for the end of the Mississippi Campaign. In 1864, she resumed transporting passengers and cargo from New York to New Orleans. The next year she sank in a hurricane off the coast of Savannah. In 2003 the Odyssey Republic Expedition, after twelve years of searching, discovered and began the recovery of the ships treasure. The cargo of riches, every explorers dream, had lain for 138 years approximately 100 miles off the coast of Georgia. Lost Gold of the Republic, a film produced by National Geographic documents the discovery and recovery. The coins recovered from the S.S. Republic are labeled as such by NGC and its affiliate NCS not only to note the historic significance of the coin, but also to indicate that these coins have been professionally conserved. The blue NGC tag was used exclusively for coins from the Republic.

The 1838 eagle had an original mintage of only 7,200 pieces, which makes it extremely rare in any condition. Only 4 were recovered from the S.S. Republic. In its population reports, NGC lists 7 in AU55 with 10 better.