Lot 673
1845 $2.50 Liberty. Sharpness of EF-45 but a seawater coin. Apparently from a small source which was not identified in the Breen Encyclopedia, but with surfaces similar to those seen on other gold coins recovered after a century or more on the ocean bottom. A glass will note minor tick marks, perhaps from the action of sand and tides moving across the surfaces, this coin was probably not too deep, which allowed the surface currents to lightly mark this piece. It was a very different story on the S.S. Central America coins, they were so deep (about 8,000 feet down) that surface currents had no effect, and there was no eroding sand to wash back and forth across the surfaces with tidal changes, leaving them virtually unchanged from the day they went down with the ship once the coating of dirt and sediment was carefully removed.
Struck from a late reverse die state, with seven radial cracks visible with a glass.
Estimated Value $100 - 150.
From Superior Galleries sale, June 2-3, 1986, lot 1807.
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| Realized $184 |
