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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 8046425, member: 101855"]If there are any P Mint coins from the SS Central America recovery, they would undoubtedly be circulated coins that some of the passengers had with them. The mostly 1857-S double eagles high grade coins recovered from the wreck were fresh from the San Francisco Mint. The coins are practically the only source for Gem Uncirculated quality Type I double eagles. Before this find, it was almost impossible to obtain the Type I $20 gold in that grade. Since there have not been an salvage operations like this for Type II double eagles, that type coin is not available in that grade. A double eagle was a tremendous amount of money in the mid to late 19th century. Collectors could not afford to put that much money aside to do nothing. Furthermore, a collector could spend that money on multiple coins that were much more interesting to them. Finally, collectors were not as obsessed with super high grade coins as they are today. There was “Uncirculated” and “used.” When I started as a collector in the 1960s, there was “Uncirculated” and “Gem.” “Gem” was MS-64 and higher. Here is my 1857-S double eagle, graded MS-65. It's one of those "odd ball" pieces in an NGC holder. It's scarcer in this holder, but not worth as much as the coins in the PCGS gold foil label holders. My theory is that these were coins that awarded to the plaintiffs who got the "8%" part of the settlement in the court ruling. [ATTACH=full]1392701[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1392702[/ATTACH] And here is my higher grade Type II double eagle. Note the addition of the the motto, "In God we trust," to the reverse on the design. This is graded MS-63. Finding an MS-65 graded example of this type is almost impossible. [ATTACH=full]1392703[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1392704[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]

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