What The Us Gold Bureau Can Tell You About The Brother Jonathan

By Author: Samantha Collander
Total Articles: 11
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Every so often, a huge cache of coins appears in mysterious circumstances. The US Gold Bureau likes to keep track of these types of things, to inform you about where a coin has come from. One place where coins have been found in the past are shipwrecks. The United States Gold Bureau has all the information about these and speculates how it is possible that the coins have appeared in almost perfect condition.

One great example is the Brother Jonathan. As you can see on the U.S. Gold Bureau website, this was a ship that was due to sail from San Francisco to Victoria in 1865. The vessel was hugely overcrowded and counted 240 passengers and crew. The US Gold Bureau also knows that it carried $2 million worth of gold, a whole lot of whiskey, $250,000 in payroll for the army, one horse and two camels.

The Brother Jonathan was unlucky, however. She lost her way in a very fierce storm that she came across, sinking the ship in uncharted waters. All those on board died, except for 19 who managed to find a lifeboat. Because the cargo was rumored to be so precious, searches for the Brother Jonathan have been numerous. However, ...
... none of these searches were successful.

However, the United States Gold Bureau reports that Deep Sea Research found a wreck in 1993. Using a lot of high tech equipment, Deep Sea Research managed to salvage what is believed to be the wreckage of the Brother Jonathan, bringing up 1,200 gold coins. Many of these coins turned out to be $20 Liberty Coins. All of these coins were dated from 1865 and each had the San Francisco Mint mark on it. Other items were also recovered from the wreckage, although there was no sign of the camels or the horses, unfortunately.

Before this discovery was made, the U.S. Gold Bureau only knew of seven of such coins to be in mint condition. One was at MS61.5, another two were at MS 62 nadone other were at MS 63. None of these gradings are particularly high. However, the salvage found over 400 of these 1865 coins. Prices suddenly shot up because the coins were filled in mystery. However, some investors were clever enough to wait a few years and by 1999, when the coin's value dropped by as much as 25%. Even after this drop, however, the coins remain absolutely amazing and many collectors want to have one in their collection. After all, there are still not many on the market that are in this condition. Furthermore, there are not many coins that have this amount of fascinating history attached to them, making the coins even more attractive.

Peter has always been an avid coin collector, with a sizeable collection to his name. By using information found on the US Gold Bureau website, he was able to find the true current value of the 1865 $20 liberty coins salvaged from the Brother Jonathan, who sank in that same year. Visit http://austin.citysearch.com/ for more information.