1861-S Double Eagle Republic - 1861-S $20 SS Republic NGC AU58. This shipwrecked, Civil War dated, Western branch mint, near-Mint State, 1861-S Double Eagle comes with a box and blue tag from NGC showing its provenance. The coin has muted mint luster within its devices. It is well struck with full details on the centers of the stars and the design details of the reverse, especially the eagle. Just a touch of wear keeps this eye-appealing piece from a Mint State grade. The surfaces are original and show light abrasion marks that are consistent with the near-Mint State designation.

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 relieve 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.

In its first year of operation the Mint made four million dollars in gold coins from bullion. The second building, the Old United States Mint, was designed by Alfred B. Mullett in Greek Revival style. It was built in an E-shape with a central pediment portico. There was a completely enclosed courtyard that had a well. It was these features that saved it in the fire that resulted from the earthquake of 1906. The building was situated on a concrete and granite foundation that was made to prevent tunneling into its vaults. In 1906 there was $300 million, a third of the United States gold reserves, in its vaults. Frank Leach and his men worked heroically to successfully preserve the building and the bullion. The mint was able to resume service and operated until 1937. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

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.

In 1861 the Paquet Reverse was used to mint 19,250 double eagles from San Francisco, a small run for the time. After its use, the regular reverse die was substituted to make a rather large run of double eagles. While found in abundant quantity in lower grades, this issue is a conditional rarity and is scarce in grades above AU55. In its population report, NGC shows 29 1861-S double eagles that have the S.S. Republic pedigree in AU58 condition with 11 better.