1856-S Double Eagle SS Cental America - 1856-S $20 S.S. Central America, 17J Split Serif, PCGS AU58. This highly lustrous, near-Mint State 1856-S Double Eagle is the Split Serif variety and has the provenance of the ill-fated S.S. Central America. The coin is well struck with full details on the centers of the stars and the design elements of the reverse. Only a trace of wear on the highest points keeps this coin from an Uncirculated grade. The surfaces are original and clean for the grade with no notable individual abrasion marks.

In 1857, the S.S. Central America sank of the coast of the Carolinas because it was caught in a huge hurricane. 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.

James B. Longacre designed the double eagle. It shows a Liberty head facing left wearing coronet inscribed LIBERTY. Her hair is tightly tied in the back with two loose curls hanging down her neck to the end of the truncation. She is surrounded by thirteen six pointed stars with the date below. Dentils are near the edge on both sides of the coin. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with elaborate ribbons on both sides of the shield extending from the top corner down to the eagles tail feathers. The ribbons are inscribed, on the left E PLURIBUS and UNUM on the right. The ribbons were added to the design to symbolize the denomination since this was the first twenty dollar coin. There is an oval of thirteen stars above the eagles head and an arc of rays from wing tip to wing tip behind the upper half of the oval. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is in an arc above the eagle, and the denomination TWENTY D. is below. The mint mark is between the tail feathers and the N of TWENTY.

At least 18 different die varieties have been discovered for the 1856-S double eagle. In its population report, PCGS shows 40 Split Serif pieces in AU58 condition with 39 better.