1864-S $20.00 NGC MS61

While not designated as such by NGC, my guess is that this coin is one of the examples recovered from the S.S. Brother Jonathan. It has a slightly semi-granular texture and even light yellow gold color which is reminiscent of the better quality coins from this remarkable group. The eye appeal is really excellent with pleasing color, great detail for the issue (including full radial lines within the stars on the obverse) and very minimally abraded surfaces. A small area of scuffing in the left obverse field is probably all that is keeping this coin from an otherwise-possible MS62 grade. Since the beginning of 2009, only four MS61 examples of this popular Civil War date (all encapsulated by NGC) have sold at auction and anything graded higher than this is very difficult to locate as one might imagine. An important Type One double eagle for the advanced collector.