1855-S Double Eagle SS Cental America - 1855-S $20 SSCA, S Tilted Left PCGS AU55. This 1855-S Double Eagle SS Cental America is one of 338 twenty dollar pieces of this date and mint that has as its provenance the ill-fated S.S. Central America. This 1855-S Double Eagle SS Cental America coin is well struck with full details on the centers of the stars and the design details of the reverse. Bright mint luster shimmers on both sides of the coins fully original surfaces. Just a touch of wear on the highest points and some light abrasion marks, more prominent on the reverse, keep this coin from a Mint State grade.

Until the discovery of the S.S. Central America, 1850s double eagles in Choice AU condition were virtually unavailable. The ship, 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.

The S Tilted Left variety of the 1855-S Double Eagle SS Cental America is scarce. Only 54 have been certified by PCGS. In its population report, PCGS shows 17 of this variety in AU55 condition with 16 better. While NGC does not differentiate by die variety, its population report for double eagles from the Central America for the date and mint shows 0 in AU55 with 3 better.