Owner Comments:
This is a very special coin because it is not a shipwreck, and as a a result, is extremely rare. Pedigree is HW Bass, Jr. It is not a Yankee Blade coin, and in fact it cannot be from that salvage effort (or any shipwreck) as Harry Bass purchased it prior to the recovery of those coins. The surfaces are bright with thin, frosted mint luster and there is a significant presence of reddish patina on each side. Sharply defined throughout with no singularly detracting abrasions.
From Doug Winter regarding this coin (see his website http://www.raregoldcoins.com/get_market_report.asp?id=20081208a for more on this coin):
One of the more interesting and most misunderstood Type One double eagles is the 1854-S. This is an issue whose seemingly high population of Uncirculated coins belies the fact that it is actually extremely rare in higher grades.
The 1854-S double eagle is a historically significant coin as it is the first double eagle produced at the new San Francisco mint. What is especially interesting about this date, however, is its population in Uncirculated. Looking at the PCGS and NGC populations, one might think that the 1854-S is only moderately scarce. After all, PCGS has seen 52 in all grades of Mint State while NGC has recorded 68.
But the population reports fail to explain an important fact about the 1854-S double eagle: virtually every coin in a PCGS or NGC Uncirculated holder has matte-like surfaces as a result of exposure to seawater.
I first learned about the rarity of high grade 1854-S double eagles with original surfaces around fifteen years ago and have searched for Uncirculated pieces for many years. The finest that I have ever seen is a piece that was recently sold as Lot 61779 in Heritage’s November 2007 sale where it brought $21,850; it had earlier been in the Bass collection and it sold for $10,925 when offered as Bass III: 781 in May 2000. The only other example I can recall having seen with claims to an Uncirculated grade was Heritage 1/05: 9473 ($5,175). This coin was in an old holder and it might grade MS60 or better by today’s standards. It is now owned by a collector in Connecticut.
So where are all of the high grade 1854-S double eagles without seawater surfaces? My guess is that a considerable number were melted. This seems more likely when one takes into account the fact that the vast majority of the 325-425+ pieces known lack original surfaces. My best estimate is that only 25-50 are (currently) known from non-shipwreck sources. It is my opinion that these should command a strong premium over seawater coins in all grades.
Doug Winter
12/8/07
So, in summary, this coin is probably the finest known original, non shipwreck 1854-S in existance. In fact, Akers in his book on Double Eagles (published just as the Yankee Blade coins were coming on the market) says that he has seen only one uncirculated (not seawater) coin and only a few AU. Since he was familiar with the Bass collection, it was likely this coin.