To mark the 35th anniversary of the historic 1988 discovery of the greatest treasure ever found, a $15 million Ship of Gold sunken treasure exhibit will begin a nationwide educational tour with its first port-of-call at the Long Beach Expo (www.LongBeachExpo.com) collectibles show in Long Beach, Calif., Thursday to Saturday, June 22 to 24. The display of recovered California Gold Rush treasures from the 1857 sinking of the fabled S.S. Central America will feature gold coins, assayers ingots, gold nuggets, and gold dust. There will also be a treasure shipment box, items from the ship such as tableware, bottles, an engine room steam gauge, and the bell believed to be rung to announce meal service. One of the major factors in identifying the wreck site as the legendary S.S. Central America was the discovery of a green bottle still containing some gold dust. It was the first item from the ship retrieved from the ocean floor in 1988 and will now be displayed. Recovered passengers artifacts in the exhibit include ticket receipts, jewelry, an elegant mans smoking jacket, 166-year-old Cuban cigars, and the worlds most valuable jeans, gold prospectors heavy-duty work pants that sold at auction for $114,000 this past December. Many of the Gold Rush-era artifacts in the display have not previously been publicly exhibited, said Adam Crum, president of Finest Known (www.FinestKnown.com) in Torrance, Calif. The Ship of Gold touring exhibit is being organized by Finest Known, Argos Gold Group, and National Treasures I LLC. The exhibit will be housed in a 40-foot-long re-creation of the famous ships hull. The centerpiece and highlight of the exhibit will be a mammoth assayers ingot nicknamed the Eureka Bar, which is considered by many to be a priceless national treasure. It is the single largest gold artifact in existence from the California Gold Rush and the most famous and desirable artifact from what Life magazine called The Greatest Treasure Ever Found, furthered Crum. The Eureka Bar weighs 933.94 Troy ounces, a little over 64 pounds. The ingots value in 1857 was stamped by San Francisco assayers Kellogg & Humbert as $17,433.57, but today its insured for $10 million, explained Crum. The S.S. Central America was a 280-foot-long, three-masted side-wheel steamship carrying tons of California Gold Rush treasures from Panama to New York City that sank in the Atlantic Ocean 150 miles off the North Carolina coast during a hurricane on September 12, 1857. It was discovered about 7,200 feet below the oceans surface in 1988 by a scientific expedition using a six-ton remote-controlled submersible vehicle, explained Bob Evans, the chief scientist and historian on the recovery missions. The tragedy of the S.S. Central America sinking took the lives of 425 of the ships 578 passengers and crew members, and the loss of the gold cargo was a major factor in the economically devastating financial Panic of 1857 in the United States, said Evans, who will be at the Long Beach Expo to meet with visitors and answer questions about the S.S. Central America. The exhibit also includes a prospectors recovered saddle bag that contained gold coins, nuggets and gold dust. Visitors can see the only known complete treasure shipment box from the 1850s California Gold Rush period. An embossed wax seal on the box is still easily readable as Alsop & Co., renowned merchants and gold treasure shippers of the era. Other sunken treasure artifacts in the exhibit include a gold pocket watch cover with intricately engraved scenes of early San Francisco, a Madonna with child figurine, and a rare medal presented by the Order of Saint Maurice and Saint Lazarus, the worlds second oldest order of knighthood, recovered from the sunken ships seabed debris field. The record-setting miners pants and cigars in the display were discovered in the submerged trunk of first-class passenger John Dement of Oregon, a merchant and military veteran. The ship stopped in Havana, Cuba, on its ill-fated voyage from Aspinwall (now Coln), Panama, to New York, where Dement presumably obtained cigars. The display will also have items found in the trunk of first-class San Francisco royalty passengers, Ansel and Adeline Easton, who were on their honeymoon trip to New York. His ornately embroidered, fashionable smoking jacket is one of those items in the exhibition. After the steamship was overwhelmed and crippled by a hurricane, the captain, Commander William Lewis Herndon, ordered the lifeboats to be launched and the women and children, including Adeline, evacuated to a ship passing nearby. Ansel clung to debris in the water for hours after the ship sank until the crew from another vessel rescued him. Captain Herndon went down with the ship, said Evans. The Eastons were reunited eight days later when the rescue ships reached port at Norfolk, Va. We are delighted to present these historic California Gold Rush sunken treasure artifacts for people to see in person, stated Crum. After this debut exhibition, we will be announcing future locations and dates in the United States and other countries for a Treasures From the Deep touring display, explained Crum. For additional information about treasure from the S.S. Central America, visit www.FinestKnown.com.