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…).

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