IYKYK about shipwreck gold
vpr
Posts: 632 ✭✭✭
Interesting description, but can someone please share pointers on how to ID shipwreck vs not:. Does salvaged gold lose its luster? I've seen great examples of SSCA gold..
https://raregoldcoins.com/rare-gold-coin-inventory/2000-1854s-p61
RARE NON-SHIPWRECK 1854-S $20 GRADED MS61 BY PCGS
The 1854-S is a numismatically interesting issue as it represents the first double eagle made at the newly-opened San Francisco mint. While hundreds exist in Uncirculated (examples exist in MS65), 95% of these have seawater surfaces and trace their origin from the S.S. Yankee Blade, a shipwreck located off the coast of Santa Barbara around 50+ years ago. Unfortunately, neither PCGS or NGC distinguish these from pieces with original surfaces.
Even after around five or six nice non-shipwreck pieces were sourced from the Fairmont Hoard, Uncirculated non-shipwreck 1854-S double eagles remain very rare with not more than a dozen or so known. The single finest is the PCGS MS62 that I bought very cheaply for $40,800 as Stacks Bowers 4/2022: 5373. I also purchased a PCGS MS60—ex Fairmont—for $27,600—as Stack’s Bowers 2022 ANA: 3405. I have only handled one CAC approved Uncirculated 1854-S $20 with non-shipwreck surfaces: a PCGS MS61 that I sold a decade ago to a collector in Connecticut.
This piece has just about the nicest obverse I have seen on a non-shipwreck 1854-S. It is frosty and vibrant with intense rose, green and orange-gold colors. The reverse is very clean but not as vibrant and there is a tiny area of cleaning visible with a 5x glass within the stars above the head of the eagle.
Because the population figures for this date have been so totally ruined by PCGS and NGC, the savvy collector can buy a non-shipwreck 1854-S $20 for essentially no premium. In doing this, he is getting a coin that is at least 10x rarer than its salvaged counterpart. (NOTE: this statement is true only for shipwreck coins from the Yankee Blade. The market for S.S. Central America 1854-S double eagles is a totally different story…).
If you know you know…
Comments
Provanance/Provable
Provable Provenance
An encrustation on the item after decades in saltwater
Maybe DW and three other people can distinguish between salvaged and non salvaged. This comes across as a marketing ploy to me.
I’ve seen a large quantity of the conserved (salvaged) ship-wreck coins and none of them looked remotely close to the one in this thread. Consider me convinced that Doug Winter is correct.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Mark is spot-on...I'm not a grading expert by any chance and the variations in gold texture often elude me...but side-by-side you can pretty easily tell the difference between an 1857-S SSCA and a non-SSSCA. Ditto for other years, too.
@MFeld I stand corrected and thanks.
Skier, FWIW, I think the SSCA story is worth having, even if it costs a bit more. I'm not sure if SSCA's still command a hefty premium, I would think the "sizzle" from 25 years ago has faded but maybe it's still there a bit.