1865 $20 SS Republic (1865 Double Eagle SS Republic) NGC MS61 CAC. Type 1 Double Eagle. This mint state, Civil War dated 1865 Double Eagle SS Republic has a full strike, superb mint luster, and is an unusual variety. The strike shows full details on the centers of the stars and all the design elements of the reverse. No wear is found, as expected for a mint state coin. Aside from the small contact mark on Libertys cheek, the surfaces are clean for the grade and original. The coin is labeled Date in Rim because traces of the bottoms of an inverted 18 logotype are seen within the dentils in the border below the 65.

During the California Gold Rush, the S.S. Republic, then called the Tennessee, was used to transport miners to the shores of Panama and Nicaragua to travel to the California gold fields. For several years the ship was used to transport immigrants to the United States from Mexico. In 1865 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 of riches had lain for 138 years approximately 100 miles off the coast of Georgia. Lost Gold of the Republic, a film produced by National Geographic 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.

James Barton Longacre designed the double eagle. Its obverse 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. In 1866 the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the enlarged oval of stars on the reverse. Later the denomination was changed from TWENTY D. to TWENTY DOLLARS.

Authentic artifacts from the Civil War era are very popular today. So are coins and other items that have a treasure ship such as the S.S. Republic for their provenance. These factors combined with the quality of this unusual variety make for a very desirable coin.