An article by Paul Gilkes in the latest Coin World notes that gold coins, bars and other items recovered from the S.S. Central America will be on exhibit at the ANA convention in Chicago next week. The items will be auctioned by Sotheby's December 8-9. This will be the first chance for most numismatists for get a glimpse of the treasure salvaged from the famous 1857 steamship wreck.

For background on the ship and its treasure, I recommend "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea" by Gary Kinder, 1998. While not numismatic in nature, the book is a highly readable account of both the ship and its sinking, and the high adventure of salvaging its treasure, which lay undisturbed for 132 years, 8,000 feet deep off the coast of South Carolina.

"...the picture on the monitor began to clear and slowly revealed a scene few people could imagine. "The bottom was carpeted with gold." said Tommy. "Gold everywhere, like a garden. The more you looked, the more you saw gold growing out of everything, embedded in all the wood and beams. It was amazing, clear back in the far distance bars stacked on the bottom like brownies, bars stacked like loaves of bread, bars that appear to have slid into the corner of a room. Some of the bars formed a bridge, all gold bars spanning an area of treasure over here and another area over here, water underneath, and the decks collapsing through on both sides. Then there was a beam with coins stacked on top of it, just covered, couldn't see the top of the beam it had so many coins on it."