1865-S
Double Eagle $20 Broher Jonathan PCGS MS63 Click on Coin Image to
enlarge
1865-S
Double Eagle $20 Broher Jonathan PCGS MS63 - $19,800
Presenting this choice Mint
State 1865-S Double Eagle from the S.S. Brother Jonathan
#696 at a good price. Please contact me by email
or telephone 1-941-291-2156 to reserve this great
coin.
Did you know that US Rare Coin
Investments is one of the best connections you can
have for treasure ship gold from the SS Central America,
Republic, New York, Brother Jonathan and others? As
a matter of fact you can find more examples of some
dates in the US Rare Coin Archives ( Open to clients
of US Rare Coin Investments Only with plans to open
to the general public at the FUN show January 2015
) That's right, in some cases more than the auction
companies combined. We also have handled some of the
greatest rarities in the various treasure ship series
like this 1856-S.
If you are buying or selling numismatic artifacts
from any of these shipwrecks please offer us yours
and notice our prices on ours! Whether you are acquiring
an example from each shipwreck or your goal is to
get a rarity of each or even strive toward a registry
set please consider us your shipwreck connection.
Now for more information about this great "Bro-Jo"
double eagle:
1865-S Double Eagle Brother Jonathan
- 1865-S $20 Bro Jo PCGS MS63. Ex-SS Brother Jonathan
#696. This fully lustrous, Western branch mint, Choice
Mint State 1865-S Double Eagle comes with the provenance
of the shipwrecked SS Brother Jonathan. The coin is
a mixture of light and dark yellow and rose gold. The
surfaces are extremely clean for the grade with no notable
abrasion marks. The strike is above average with full
details on the centers of most of the obverse stars,
Liberty’s hair, and the design details of the
reverse, especially the eagle. The coin is eye-appealing
and has the look of a higher grade piece.
The double eagle was designed by James B. Longacre.
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 eagle’s
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 eagle’s 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 mintmark is between the tail feathers and the N
of TWENTY.
In 1865, the SS Brother Jonathan was headed from
San Francisco to Portland. It carried about 150 passengers,
a crew of 60 and a large cargo that included an unknown
quantity of gold coins. The ship ran into heavy winds
and put in to port at Crescent City. In the morning
the voyage was resumed, but the seas were still rough.
The captain ordered it returned to port, but it struck
a submerged rock that was hidden just below the surface
of the water. The ship sank along with most of the
passengers, crew, and captain.
In the 1990’s a group of investors formed Deep
Sea Research, Inc. and found the ship and recovered
its treasure. The 1865-S double eagles that were recovered
are, according to Garrett and Guth in their Encyclopedia,
“…tangible links to these fascinating treasures
and an important time in American history."