1852 Wass Molitor $10 Small Head SSCA - 1852 $10.00 Wass Molitor, Small Head, K-3, S.S. Central America, PCGS VF35. This scarce 1852 Wass, Molitor, and Company eagle comes with the provenance of the ill-fated S.S. Central America. The coin is a VF35 because about half the lines of Libertys hair above the coronet show. The hair curls below the ear are worn but are visible. The surfaces are original and clean for the grade. The scuff mark in the center of the reverse is on the holder not the coin. The dentils are strong on the obverse but somewhat weaker on the reverse especially at the left and upper right.   

The S.S. Central America, originally called the S.S. George Law, was a United States mail steamship. In 1857 it sank off the coast of the Carolinas because of a huge hurricane. It was a three-mast, side-wheel steamship that traveled between Panama and New York. The journey took approximately 21 days. In the five years prior to its sinking, it has been estimated that the Central America carried about $150 million worth of gold or one-third of all of the gold mined in California. The ship was 272 feet long and had 578 passengers and crew on board. It also had on board over 35,000 pieces of mail and gold bars, nuggets, dust, and 5,200 newly minted San Francisco gold coins from the West, of which the present coin is one. The loss of the Central America triggered the Panic of 1857, which was caused by bank instability and generally poor economic conditions.

In 1985, the Columbus-America Discovery Group raised ten million dollars and began to search for the wreck. They found it at a depth of 8,500 feet off the coast of South Carolina. It is estimated that the total coins, ingots, and gold bars were worth more than one hundred million dollars.

There are two different historical views of the cause of the shipwreck. Cedric Ridgely-Nevitt in 1950 said. The foundering of the Central America can best be laid to the inherent structural weakness of a wooden ship so twisted and torn by wind and sea that some part of the water-tight shell gave way. This view is in contrast to that of Erik Heyl, who wrote in 1953, The chief engineer of the CENTRAL AMERICA turned out to be a thoroughgoing coward. He jumped into the last lifeboat as it was still loading, having only half-a-dozen people in it, and by brandishing a huge knife prevented others from leaving the steamer and getting into the boat.the wreck of the CENTRAL AMERICA is due solely to the cowardice of the chief engineer; when he saw water leaking into the engine and boiler rooms, he just quit cold. Presumably if the chief engineer had kept the engine running, the Captain would have been able to keep the ship afloat.

Wass and Molitor were Hungarian freedom fighters and immigrants who opened an assay office in San Francisco in 1851. Count Samuel C. Wass and Agoston (Augustus) P. Molitor studied at the School of Mines in Germany. They were experienced miners when they were exiled by the Austrians at the end of the unsuccessful revolution. Wass came to California in 1850, and Molitor came a year later. They opened up their assay office in October, 1851. At first they made and stamped gold ingots. In the process, they established their reputation for honest, fast, and reliable service. They paid depositors in forty-eight hours, which was six days faster than the U.S. Assay Office was able to do.

Since the U.S. Assay Office was only producing fifty dollar slugs, Wass and Molitor made five and ten-dollar gold coins in 1852. The obverse of these coins shows a Liberty Head Coronet surrounded by thirteen stars. On the coronet is inscribed W.M. & CO., with the date below. Dentils are around the periphery of both sides of the coins. The reverse of the five dollar coin shows a heraldic eagle facing left surrounded with the legend FIVE DOLLARS IN CALIFORNIA GOLD. The ten dollar reverse has the same eagle surrounded by the legend S.M.V. CALIFORNIA GOLD TEN D.  S.M.V. means Standard Mint Value. The coins were of a weight and fineness that was the same as the federal standard.

Only 9 Wass Molitor Small Head 1852 eagles were found on board the Central America. The grading services do not indicated the number of pieces certified with this provenance; however, in its population report PCGS shows 6 Wass Molitor Small Heads in VF35 condition with 10 better. NGC has 1 with 7 better. These numbers do not account for crossovers or resubmissions.