A few SS Central America tidbits from Bob Evans at the ANA
jonathanb
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A few tidbits about the SS Central America picked up from Bob Evans (Chief Scientist of the recovery effort) at the ANA. I assume that all of this has been published elsewhere. He was just shooting the breeze with random folks who walked up to his booth. Don't quote me on any of these exact numbers -- I wasn't taking notes -- but they should be in the right ballpark.
They recovered everything down to the hull. Sure, there could be more stuff in the debris field... but it didn't sound like anything that would warrant another expedition. The stuff that's been recovered so far is probably all we're going to get.
They recovered about 2 tons of gold. Someone asked if that was imperial tons or metric tons. My first thought was, does it matter? :-)
If all of the gold they recovered was melted into a ball, it would be less than 2 feet wide. Gold is HEAVY.
They had a manifest and they knew how much stuff was supposed to be on the ship. They recovered something like 101% of what was supposed to be there. The extra little bit is presumably from passenger's personal effects, etc. Also a pretty good sign that they got what there was to get.
That big bag of 9,000 silver dimes they recovered was probably from the ship's purser. I hadn't realized that. In other words, it wasn't a single shipment that someone was sending east. It was the actual funds that were used to run the ship on a day to day basis. That means it wasn't a big bag of mint state 1857-S dimes. It was a snapshot of whatever happened to actually be in circulation. I'm looking forward to seeing a breakdown of dates! He said the range is huge, all the way back to bust and flowing hair pieces. As you might expect, lots of VF/XF stuff from the 1840s. Also a good chunk of quarters and halves, I think he said close to 1,000 of each, including bust pieces.
He said that the only 1857-dated dime was actually a Philly mint piece. Go figure.
Another point I hadn't picked up on was that the big bag of dimes was recovered in a safe. Maybe I knew that. I definitely didn't think it through. The bag was inside the safe, and I think he mentioned a couple of other layers also. I had in mind the "Shipwreck Effect" pieces from earlier recoveries. Apparently... nope! These were SEALED IN THE SAFE. I guess they made pretty good safes at that point. He had one dime in the case, slabbed with a straight 62 grade. He thinks that maybe 3/4 of the total will get straight grades. Wow!
Comments
Thanks, interesting info.
Fascinating information
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When do you suppose the dimes will get graded by PCGS and hit the market?
I would love to have one of those dimes.
Later, Paul.
I think he said that he's still working on the dimes, so "not for a while". Priority goes to the big-ticket pieces. Makes sense to me.
Very cool info, thank you for sharing!
Wow!!! Cool!! I love shipwreck info!!
Great report, thank you! I'm just anxious to hear when the silver stuff is coming to auction.
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Nice! Thanks for the information.
At ANA, I was talking with Bob Evans and he indicated that there were a fair number of Capped and Draped Bust dimes found. Didn't offer any time table on when those would be available.
Thanks for the write up! very cool. I wonder If I can get a dime when they come out. Gold was not in my future.
That sounds odd that they would have survived the great remelt of 1853.
i am reading it with awe....
Much appreciated. Thanks.
Wow, "sweet", thanks for sharing !!!
Possibly a bit frightening for those who currently hold nice draped / bust dimes & quarters. Guess we won’t know until there’s a released inventory
I did not know about the safe and coins within... that is interesting information. Since silver often is degraded when in salt water for extended periods, the condition mentioned is really surprising. Cheers, RickO
Very interesting. I am glad you asked. Peace Roy
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I would expect most of these to be in the lower grade ranges since they had been in circulation for decades by 1857. I don't think that there will be many higher grade Bust coins among the group, but that's just speculation.
I would be very interested to know whether there were any counterfeit coins recovered from the ship. This was a very big problem prior to the Civil War, and it would not surprise me that some pieces were recovered. This would also be a great snapshot of the 'other' coins circulating at the time. Then again, with a ship coming from California and heading east, there is less of a likelihood that counterfeit coins would be on the ship in contrast to a ship going from the east coast to the west; counterfeiting coins wasn't a big issue in California during the 1850s - a handful of reports and that's all I've found.
Awesome! I’d really like one of the dimes in a shipwreck holder.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
Sellitstore - Bob did mention that the conditions for the early dimes have that shipped wreck effect. So none I suspect will be in high grade but I would definitely like one of those.
Looking forward to seeing any of the straight graded silver they recovered. Thanks for the interesting info jonathanb!
Best, SH
Thank you!
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
Thanks for the info.