100 Objects #23: Coin From the Ship of Gold

In 1857, the SS Central America sank off the coast of South Carolina with thousands of pounds of California gold destined for New York banks. The loss triggered the Panic of 1857, the first global financial crisis, and heightened sectional tensions that helped fuel the Civil War. Over a century later, the discovery of the wreck and its treasure led to legal battles that destroyed the life of the man who found it.