The Ship of Gold - Informational

in my mind what you're looking at right there is one of the top 10 greatest numismatic items that exists on the face of the earth mid States 65 condition point that represents the California Gold Rush era is incredibly branded so this fight was very very important to his manic in February 2010 in Long Beach California a memorable chapter in American history was brought back to life sponsored by Monaco rare coins the incredible ship of gold exhibit returned to the Long Beach Expo after a ten-year absence it remains one of the biggest attractions ever presented at a coin show and it's no wonder the story it commemorates has been well documented in Life Magazine scores of newspapers on the History Channel NBC Dateline and a number of best-selling books inside a 40-foot long representation of the ship's hull coin enthusiasts and history buffs were able to view 10 million dollars of recovered gold coins and historic California gold rush era ingots that were recovered from the SS Central America over 100 years after its ill-fated voyage from Panama to New York carrying 477 passengers and an estimated 30,000 pounds of gold from the California Gold Rush the side wheel steamer SS Central America left Panama bound for New York on September 3rd 1857 the ship of gold never reached its destination sinking off the Carolina coast where it remained untouched for a hundred and thirty-one years the sinking was a catastrophe on many levels in addition to the human tragedy the lost gold valued at 2 million dollars at the time had a profound effect on the struggling American economy undermining public confidence and contributing greatly to the panic of 1857 the ship was located in 1987 by scientist Explorer tommy Thompson and the Columbus America discovery group the astounding treasure included thousands of gold coins minted by the San Francisco mint over 500 assayer gold ingots bars and bricks and several pounds of solid gold nuggets the total value of the recovered gold was estimated at a hundred and fifty million dollars at the time and its value has only gone up since during the past decade Monaco rare coins has handled millions of dollars worth of the amazing coins ingots nuggets and Goldust that were recovered from the SS Central America and to help educate the public about the treasure and increase interest in rare collectibles Monaco sponsors the ship of gold displays at the Long Beach show and other venues across the country its next scheduled appearance will be at the summer a na show in Boston August 10th through the 14th since all the items have been dispersed and are now in the hands of private collectors it's been a real challenge to bring it all together but gratifying nonetheless for treasure hunters of all types the ship of gold exhibit is a must-see and now Adam chrome vice president of numismatics from Monaco rare coins takes us on a tour of the Magnificent ten million dollar ship of gold exhibit hi I'm Adam from of Monaco rare coins and what you're about to see is one of the greatest things that's ever happened to the rare coin market it's the sinking of the SS Central America in 1857 and what we have here is a rendition of the hull of the ship that went down in 1857 in a hurricane and some of the great treasure that came up as a result of it how I became involved in the treasures when it came to the market in 2000 after years of following it through litigation I I was there watching it come to mark and seeing the response and then I course got to see the ship the first time that it came to Long Beach and the response the public had to this was very nice and refreshing to see and I'll tell you after ten year anniversary is what the celebration is here it's been unbelievable to see that people really do care and love about this and come out of the numbers that they do but what you see here in this porthole is some examples of the coins that were on the ship they're in pristine condition prior to the sinking of the Central America and the recovery of the Central America what you see in this case simply didn't exist in this type of condition these coins have been some of the most popular coins in the marketplace collectors have been very responsive to it and it's been a joy and a feather in my cap to be even be involved and a privilege to be involved in the distribution of the Central America moving on over here there were 532 monetary ingots that were recovered from the shipwreck site this is a small sampling of the assayer ingots that were made in the 1850s in San Francisco and were being shipped in New York of course they sank on the ship had ship not sank they wouldn't exist today they would have been melted made into coins and as a result of the sinking the ship and recovery of it we have these incredible artifacts today all of this has been dispersed it's in collectors hands and and bringing this whole thing together over the past six months it's been quite a challenge but I'll tell you seeing the response that the public has given I'm glad that we did this and celebrating this ten-year anniversary but if you haven't had an opportunity to hold one of these in your hands you can't appreciate truly what they are they're literally a gold document this was currency to trade at hands and then 50s in California paper money was illegal at the time and these items are something to treasure moving on over here you'll see a stack of freshly minted 1857 San Francisco double eagles or $20.00 gold coins in my mind what you're looking at right there is one of the top ten greatest numismatic items that exists on the face of the earth you know in 1857 this was simply a stack of coins on its way to New York to help out with the Commerce and an economy that was struggling at the time but as a result of the sinking we now get to see in a time capsule what took place back then and today this is a priceless artifact in my opinion it's literally traveled around the world in fact it's supposed to be right now in the Cincinnati natural History Museum and this was pulled out for it specifically for this 10-year anniversary and that's why we have it here it's in water because it's a you know this is a not a real stable artifact it would continue to deteriorate so it's kept in water and maintain that but this is an incredible stack of freshly minted 1857 s double eagles these are kind of the kingpins of the treasure there are eight what I call gold bricks but these are large monetary ingots that are stamped with a serial number a face value these are literally 65 pound documents of gold that have a face value of an excess of twelve thousand dollars each at the time so that's what it was when you were if you would have traded it at the time period the face value stamped on there based upon the weight of the gold but these weighs about sixty to sixty-five pounds each one of them from Justin Hunter which was a prominent Ashley office in Sacramento and San Francisco and then the other one on the left here is a Kellogg and humbert which was the largest assay office in San Francisco moving on over here is the kingpin of the treasure it's known as a Eureka bar this item we helped facilitate a transaction in 2002 for eight million dollars and this is a nine hundred and thirty three ounce gold documents with a face value of seventeen thousand four hundred thirty three dollars and fifty seven cents in 1857 currency so this is this is quite quite the treasure in his owned by a local collector here in Orange County California but that's it that's the treasure and it's here for everyone to enjoy and we sure hope that yeah I know I've enjoyed putting here's Neil Sharkey displaying one of the beautiful $20 gold pieces that was freshly minted in San Francisco shortly before going down with the ship it's in 1857 San Francisco minted $20 gold piece this was federally minted by the United States Mint in San Francisco this point is literally struck at the very year that the SS Central America shipwreck sank into the ocean it was freshly minted who transported his cargo to the shipyards and brought by the SS Sonora down to Panama it traveled across the Isthmus of Panama by railroad boarded the SS Central America and on September 12th and at the bottom of the ocean recovered by the Columbus American discovery group and brought to the market by the year 2000 these coins have been very actively trading over the course last ten years the ten-year anniversary of the shipwreck so midstate 65 condition point that represents the california gold rush era is in credit so this fight was very very important a numismatic thing but at the end of the day you're talking about an item that's held the market value of over $100,000 and viable today in a fraction of that cost so what everyone says that chipwrecked correct treasure comes at a premium this actually comes at a disco the phenomenal piece is true a highly informative website WWF of gold calm is available for those who are interested in delving into the story of the famed ship of gold it's a truly fascinating adventure you

Channel: Jonathan Garner

Views: 29,823

Rating: 4.6226416 out of 5

Keywords: ship, of, gold, main, seq

Id: fbzsOAa0IY4

Length: 9min 48sec (588 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 02 2012