“Mona Lisa of the Deep”

Finest Known Purchases Historic 1857 Shipwreck Photograph

Finest Known has purchased the historic photo, “Mona Lisa of the Deep” at the S.S. Central America “The Ship of Gold” Final Auction, March 4-5, 2023.

It’s hard to believe a photo could survive more than a century and a half at the bottom of the ocean, but in 2014, this remarkably preserved daguerreotype photograph was recovered from “The Ship of Gold” that ship that sank off the North Carolina coast in 1857.

The “Mona Lisa of antique photographs” is the prize photograph discovery.

She was found perfectly positioned on a pile of coal, facing up and looking directly at the ROV video camera when it was discovered in over 7,200 feet below the Atlantic. The scientific mission recovery team nicknamed her, “Mona Lisa of the Deep.”

This antique Daguerreotype photograph shows a young beautiful woman, hands in her lap, shoulders bare, with curling tresses of hair falling past her shoulders, wearing a lacy blouse with jewelry. She is unknown by name but is known as “Mona Lisa of the Deep” because of her striking pose, enigmatic smile, and exquisite, almost three-dimensional clarity of this historic shipwreck image.

Finest Known Buys “Mona Lisa of the Deep”

The second and final auction of never-before-offered, historic California Gold Rush artifacts recovered from the 1857 sinking of the fabled “Ship of Gold,” the S.S. Central America, was held on March 4-5, 2023 in Reno, Nevada, and online by Holabird Western Americana Collections.

Finest Known’s Winning Bid was $73,200.

*Not For Sale – Preserving History for Generations

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