1857-S Double Eagle - 1857-S $20 SS Central America, PCGS AU58 CAC. This Western branch mint, shipwrecked 1857-S Double Eagle comes with a CAC sticker, which confirms its grade and indicates that the coin is of premium quality. Because of its popularity, it is included in Garrett and Guths 100 Greatest U.S. Coins (2005). The near-Uncirculated coin is extremely clean for the grade with no notable abrasion marks or other distractions. The light and dark yellow gold colors affirm the coins originality. The strike is strong with full details on the centers of the stars, Libertys hair, and the design details of the reverse, especially the eagle. Original, bright mint luster is found within the devices and in protected areas of both sides of the coin.
Until the discovery of the SS Central America, 1850s double eagles in mint 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, 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 actually caused by bank instability and generally poor economic conditions. On September 26, 1857, the Philadelphia Public Ledger made the following announcement:  The distrust that has pervaded stock and financial circles for the last fortnight was considerably heightened yesterday, by announcement early in the day that the Bank of Pennsylvania had suspended payment. A meeting of the directors was immediately convened, and the business of the bank ceased.The effect of the stoppage by the Bank spread like wildfire, and almost immediately a run was made on all the other banks, which was continued up to the hour of closingthree oclock. Within a week, specie payments were suspended at New York City banks, and a nationwide depression followed. 

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 Liberty Head double eagle was designed by James B. Longacre. It shows Liberty in profile 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 mintmark is between the tail feathers and the N of TWENTY.

In its population report, as of December 2013, CAC shows 3 1857-S, No Serif, Right S double eagles confirmed at the AU58 grade level with 7 better. Less than 5% of all No Serif, Right S double eagles of this date that have been certified by PCGS have received a CAC sticker. NGC does not distinguish this coin type by die variety.