Daily Gold Coin News

The discovery of the SS Central America in 1987 was at the time a historical find, but now the numismatic world is also starting to see rewards from the tons of gold coins and ingots that were found in its wreckage.

Originally called the SS George Law, the ship left the Panamanian port of Colon on September 3, 1857 for New York loaded with almost 600 people and 15 tons of gold aboard. The ship reached the Carolina coast but was sunk by a hurricane, leaving nearly 400 people and an estimated $100-$150 million in gold on the ocean floor.

In addition to gold ingots, the ship’s wreckage has yielded a bounty of wonderful coins. The shipwreck gold coins have transformed the rare coin market, with as many as 5,200 of the 1857-S Coronet gold $20 double Eagles available. PCGS has recorded over 900 submissions that have received grades of MS-65, nearly 200 at MS-66 and a small number at MS-67. Due to their amazing quality and high grades, values for the MS-67 coins have surpassed $100,000. Even lower quality MS-63 coins have brought good prices, with one sold at a January, 2010 auction for nearly $7,500.

Finds such as the SS Central America are important to a large number of historians and investors. Certified gold coins like the ones found in the wreckage added greatly to quantities of rare American gold coins that were reduced by the two gold confiscations experienced in the US history. These coins allow investors a chance to buy a piece of history that continues to increase in value more than 150 years after settling to the ocean floor on that stormy day in 1857. 

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Kevin Johnson

Senior Staff Writer - GoldCoin.net