S.S. Central America 1857

 The United States Mail Steamship S.S. Central America sank in deep water off the coast of the Carolinas during a monstrous 1857 hurricane, it created just such an accidental accumulation of treasure. Bound for New York with 578 passengers and crew, and 38,000 pieces of mail, the S.S. Central America also held tons of gold ingots, coins, nuggets, and dust mined from the western gold fields during a defining quarter-century when the country came of age.
The Central America transported an estimated one-third of the entire California Gold Rush output. That one-third was valued at the time at approximately $150 million.

The S.S. Central America was lost for 131 years. The S.S. Central America shipwreck is a unique time capsule of information and artifacts of an era in which the very character and spirit of America blossomed.

In 1985 an ocean engineer with Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, Thomas G. Thompson, founded the Columbus-America Discovery Group to research and locate the S.S. Central America shipwreck. The 161 investors raised more than $10 million.
By 1986 the group, based in landlocked Columbus, began exploring 1,400 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean and located the ship’s bell in 8,500 feet of water.

July 1998 - January 2000: Intrigued and determined to "do the deal," Manley, now Managing Partner of California Gold Group, Newport Beach, then undertook nearly two years of complex negotiations with Columbus-America Discovery Group, Union Bank of California and Christie’s auction house to acquire the $100+ million worth of historic gold coins and bars. He earlier obtained a $70 million contract for Utah Jazz basketball star Karl Malone, but now declares the treasure project involved the biggest and most complicated negotiations he’s ever undertaken. Manley accomplished what no else could do.

Today the coins are being certified by Collectors Universe Professional Coin Grading Service (NASDAQ: CLCT), the world’s largest rare coin authentication company. Each coin is sonically sealed in a protective holder.

For the first time in history, individuals are able to purchase historic gold coins from the S.S. Central America treasure.