1860-S Gold Eagle SS Republic - 1860-S $10 Republic, NGC AU58. Here is a near-Mint State, AU58 shipwrecked 1860-S Eagle from the SS Republic. The coin comes with a box and blue tag showing its provenance. The surfaces of the piece are clean for the grade with no notable abrasion marks that might require individual description, nor are there any other problems. Yellow and greenish gold predominate on the obverse, while the reverse adds light rose gold on the devices and at each side at the periphery. The strike is strong with full details on the centers of the stars, Libertys hair, the eagles neck, and the area to the lower left of the shield.

The coin, probably passenger gold is one of three recovered from the Republic and certified by NGC. During the California Gold Rush, the SS Republic, then called the Tennessee, was used to transport miners to the shore of Panama and Nicaragua to travel to the California gold fields. For several years the ship was used to carry immigrants to the Unites States from Mexico. When the Civil War began, the ship was docked in New Orleans. She was seized by the Confederates and used as a blockade runner. After the capture of New Orleans by the North, she became the flagship of Admiral Farragut for the end of the Mississippi Campaign.

In 1864, she resumed transporting passengers and cargo from New York to New Orleans. The next year she sank in a hurricane off the coast of Savannah. In 2003, the Odyssey Republic Expedition, after twelve years of searching, discovered and began the recovery of the ships treasure. The cargo had been untouched for 138 years approximately 100 miles off the coast of Georgia. Lost Gold of the Republic, a film produced by National Graphic, documents the discovery and recovery. The coins recovered from the SS Republic are labeled as such by NGC and its affiliate NCS not only to note the historic significance of the coins, but also to indicate that these coins have been professionally conserved.