1864-S 20 Dollar Gold Liberty SS Brother Jonathan Shipwreck PCGS MS61

Shipwreck Liberty From the SS Brother Jonathan

The SS Brother Jonathan was a side-wheel steamboat built to carry both passengers and cargo. In 1865, it set sail from San Francisco, California, headed for Portland Oregon. On it were 150 passengers and 500 tons of cargo--including 300 barrels of whiskey, a quartz-stamping mill meant for an Idaho gold mine, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold. On July 30, 1865 -- only its second day of travel -- the Brother Jonathan hit bad weather and suffered irreparable damage when it smashed into an uncharted rock. The crew did their best to save all passengers on board, but only a single wooden life boat was successfully launched in time. Less than 50 passengers escaped with their lives--and little to none of their belongings.

Though many searches were done over the years, it wouldn’t be until 1993 that the wreck was located, and not until 1996 that the "sunken treasure" was recovered. More than 130 years after the SS Brother Jonathan went down, PCGS was finally able to examine a number of the recovered gold coins, including this 1864-S Gold Liberty, certified as incredible Mint State-61 (MS61) condition.

Few of these date and mint mark coins exist as part of this shipwreck collection, so don’t wait -- secure it from GovMint.com for your collection now!