1857-S Double Eagle SS Central America (1857-S $20 SSCA) PCGS MS62. This Mint State Western branch mint 1857-S Double Eagle comes with the provenance of the ill-fated S.S. Central America. The coin is fully lustrous and shows a sharp strike. Full details are seen on the centers of the stars and the design elements of the reverse. There is some light surface abrasion, which accounts for the grade of MS62. This grade is confirmed by the CAC sicker indicating that the coin is of premium quality and fully merits the grade it was assigned.

Until the discovery of the S.S. 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 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.

The San Francisco Mint opened in 1854 because of the need to coin gold resulting from the California Gold Rush. In the West there was an abundance of gold bullion, nuggets and dust; however, there was also an acute shortage of circulating coinage. Congress authorized this mint to relive the shortage and coin silver and gold and because transportation of bullion to Philadelphia was time consuming and hazardous. Because of its proximity to the Gold Rush area, San Francisco was chosen as the site of the new mint. In 1874 it moved into a new building called the Old United States Mint or the Granite Lady. It is one of the few structures that survived the earthquake of 1906. It remained in service as a mint until 1938, when the present facility opened.

Prior to 1985, 1857-S double eagles were found only in circulated grades. More than 5,000 were found on the SSCA, and many of them were in mint state condition. In its population report, as of March 2012, CAC shows 2 Bold S varieties in MS62 condition with 35 better.