1836 50C Capped Bust Half Dollar, Lettered Edge NGC SE Ex.SS New York

Here’s an unusual artifact to include in your numismatic collection: a shipwrecked Capped Bust half dollar from 1836. Plus it is much more affordable than a gold piece. Over the years, most retrieved shipwrecked coins have been gold. Are you fascinated by classic U.S. coinage? And shipwreck lore? Then please take a close look at the images provided by AUCM of this artifact from the wreckage of the SS New York. Perhaps it should be the newest addition to your collection.

Newspaper ad for the steamboat New York. From the Telegraph and Texas Register, March 2, 1842. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The SS New York conducted a light cargo and passenger service between New Orleans and Galveston. It included military and post office contract passage until it submerged on September 7, 1846, during a hurricane. Seventeen of the 53 crew and passengers were lost at sea, along with "thirty to forty thousand dollars in gold, silver, and bank notes," according to reports from contemporary sources.

The ship was first detected in 1990 by an amateur diver and Louisiana oilfield worker. He trusted reports of snags from local shrimp fisherman to locate the wreck. After completion of an archeological survey conducted by the Minerals Management Service, and gaining the legal title to the wreckage, the original explorers returned to recover the ship’s coins in 2006.