More treasure goes to Long Beach

Can you believe another $40 million of sunken treasure has been recovered from the S.S. Central America?

If you are ready to drool over it as I am, be sure to attend the Long Beach Coin, Currency, Stamps & Sports Collectible Expos Feb. 22-24 where it will be on display.

Once again, marketing impresario Dwight Manley is in charge.

He is managing partner of the California Gold Marketing Group.

In 1999, he had acquired the initial and larger portion of the treasure for over $100 million, according to the ANA.

About the additional treasure, Manley says, “For insurance purposes, we’ve estimated the display’s value at $40 million, but these extraordinary treasures are priceless.”

Manley has revived the “Ship of Gold” display, which is set to house the treasure trove.

Long-time collectors might remember this ship-shaped and ship-shape display.

This latest display will showcase many of the 3,100 gold coins, more than 10,000 silver coins and 45 gold ingots that have been held in secure vaults since they were retrieved from the ocean floor four years ago.

All the coins are being certified by Professional Coin Grading Service using the new PCGS Gold Shield™ service.

The latest retrievals are just the newest chapter in a story that now goes back three decades to when the wreck was discovered in 1988.

In addition to Manley, Robert D. Evans returns for an encore performance.

He was the chief scientist on the 1980s mission that first located and recovered a portion of the fabulous sunken treasure and who assisted with the 2014 recovery.

He will be at the exhibit each day during the show to meet with visitors.

On Jan. 9, 2018, the California Gold Marketing Group received court approval and formally took possession of the treasure recovered from the S.S. Central America in 2014.

It had already been sent from Florida to the Professional Coin Grading Service headquarters in California in 38 containers that were sealed in June 2014.

Manley and Evans began opening the sealed containers on Jan. 10.

This began the careful process of examining, curating and cataloging the trove, one historic piece of treasure at a time.

The S.S. Central America sank in a hurricane in September 1857 off the North Carolina coast.

Though they are not numismatic, original leather satchels containing gold dust will be shown.

They were obtained from a safe, which might account for how well preserved the leather is.

World coin collectors will want to know that two Australian gold sovereigns struck in Sydney in 1855 and 1856 are part of the latest recoveries. Both are called the finest known, according to Manley.

There are gold coins from France, including a Napoleon 20 francs, British gold sovereigns of Queen Victoria, Mexican 8 escudos, Netherlands ducats, Dutch guldens and Peruvian gold.

What an amazing treasure story.

What an amazing display.

Go to Long Beach if you can.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog for the third time in 2017 . He is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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