1863-S Double Eagle Republic - 1863-S Republic $20 NGC MS62. This Western branch mint, Mint State 1863-S Double Eagle is a Civil War artifact. It comes with a box and blue tag from NGC showing its provenance as a reclaimed treasure coin. This 1863-S Double Eagle has brilliant mint luster on both sides. It is well struck as seen in the full details of the centers of the stars and the design elements of the reverse. Were it not for some scattered abrasion marks more so on the obverse than the reverse, the coin would have a higher Mint State grade.

During the California Gold Rush, the S.S. 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 S.S. Republic are labeled as such by NGC and its affiliate NCS not only to note the historic significance of the coin, but also to indicate that these coins have been professionally conserved. The blue NGC tag was used exclusively for coins from the Republic.

James Barton Longacre designed the pattern for the twenty dollar double eagle in 1849. It was produced because of the huge amount of gold that came into the Mint from California. With the discovery of gold at Sutters Mill in January 1848, the California gold rush began. It led to an influx of miners and others into the area. The vast quantity of gold produced led to a need for a standard form of exchange. The double eagle was the governments response. They also felt that the new denomination would be useful for large commercial transactions and that it would facilitate foreign trade.

Longacres design for the double eagle 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.

Longacres double eagle design was a new concept that endured well past the turn of the century. When Longacre first came to work at the Mint, he was opposed by Franklin Peale, the Chief Coiner. Peale was probably responsible for some blundered dies that Longacre was criticized for making. Peal was involved in a private, illegal medal manufacturing business using Mint facilities. He was concerned that this new political appointee would interfere with his business, and he resisted Longacres appointment as Chief Engraver. In the end Peale was found out and fired in 1854. Longacre flourished in his position and was responsible for creating many new designs including the Indian Head cent, the two cent piece, the Shield nickel, the Liberty Head gold dollar, the Indian Princess gold dollar, the three dollar gold piece, and the Liberty Head double eagle.

About 300 1863-S Double Eagles were recovered from the S.S. Republic and S.S. Brother Jonathan. Most of them are in the About Uncirculated grade range. In its population report, NGC shows 11 1863-S Double Eagles from the Republic in MS62 condition with 12 better.