1856 $20 Double Eagle (Liberty Head)

On May 1st, 1857, during the Third Seminole War, U.S. Army Paymaster Major Jerimiah Yellot Dashiell was traveling to Fort Capron carrying $23,000 in gold coins. Hazardous sandbars in the Indian River forced Dashiell to make the final leg by small boat. A freak wave swamped the vessel, sweeping the entire pouch of gold overboard and into the sandbars.

Congress eventually granted Major Dashiell relief from responsibility for the lost $23,000 - but later that same year, $13,000 was stolen from him overnight, and he was forced to sell his home to cover the debt. He went on to serve as Inspector General for the State of Texas during the Civil War.

In March of 1963, two young teenagers discovered Major Dashiell's gold coins along the site of the old Indian River Inlet. After securing a salvage lease from the State of Florida, they reported recovering 582 coins with a total face value of $3,866.50. Unbeknownst to the state, when the salvors later sued each other in 1967 it emerged that an additional 2,700 coins had also been recovered - bringing the total to $23,025.50, almost exactly the sum Major Dashiell had lost in 1857. Both men were sued by the state for fraud and forced to surrender 55% of the remaining coins. An additional 112 to 120 $20 gold pieces had been quietly sold to a coin dealer in Atlanta to cover a loan from St. Lucie Bank (later SunTrust, now Truist).

This 1856-S Double Eagle survives from that recovery - an exceptional piece of Florida treasure history, certified by NGC and pedigreed to the Fort Capron Treasure within The Knapton Collection.