A LOVELY PCGS/CAC MS64 1834 CLASSIC HEAD $5 FROM THE S/B PULASKI

Steamship Pulaski Disaster - click here to learn more.

At a recent coin show, I was given first shot at a group of mixed date Philadelphia Classic Head gold coins from the Pulaski Steamboat which sunk off the coast of South Georgia—near Savannah—in 1838. I had seen a few of these a year or so before, when they were in NGC holders. They were priced so aggressively that I politely told the owner that I would be a more interested buyer if and when the prices became more in line with recent APRs. Fast forward a year and prices had been adjusted along with the NGC holders having been ditched in favor of the preferred PCGS slabs. I wound up buying three half eagles, two of which are currently for sale on my website, while I sold the third to a collector at the CSNS show.

If this coin wasn’t pedigreed to the Pulaski, you would never be able to tell that this is a coin which has been in the water for 175+ years. The surfaces are largely reflective and I think they are very close to being fully Prooflike. The green-gold color is excellent, the strike is sharp and the few marks that I can see with a 5x glass are shallow and unobtrusive.

The only recent APR for an 1834 Plain 4 half eagle in PCGS/CAC MS64 is the enthusiastically graded Bass II: 9055 coin that brought $45,600 in the 2023 FUN sale.

This is a wonderful piece with a great provenance.

CAC has approved 18 in this grade with four finer. I don’t have access to the population figures specifically for the coins from this shipwreck.

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