$20 Liberty Double Eagle Gold Coin History:
Each of These Almost Uncirculated US Mint $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle Gold Coins contains .9675 Troy Ounces of Pure Gold! Dates will range from 1850-1907. From out of the boom of the California gold rush of the late 1840’s came America’s largest circulating gold coin, the Double Eagle or $20 gold piece. The U.S. Treasury was receiving such an unprecedented amount of gold from California’s mines at that point, that it was forced to expand its plans for a $1 gold piece to include the much larger Double Eagle. On March 3, 1849, Congress passed the authorizing legislation and the Double Eagle was born.
The $20 Liberty Double Eagle Gold Coin was designed by embattled Chief Engraver James Barton Longacre, best known for his work on the Indian Head Penny. The coin’s obverse draws inspiration from the ancient Greco-Roman sculpture Crouching Venus. It depicts Liberty in sharp profile, facing left, and wearing a pearl-studded diadem inscribed “Liberty”. The reverse is modeled on the Great Seal of the United States, depicting a heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast beneath a ring of thirteen stars. These coins have a certain majesty befitting their status and face value. Liberty Head Double Eagles were minted in three slight variations from 1849 through 1907 in Philadelphia (no mintmark), San Francisco (“S” mintmark), New Orleans (“O”), Carson City, Nevada (“CC”), and Denver (“D”), are composed of .90% gold yielding .9675 troy ounces of pure gold per coin, and measure 34mm in diameter.
$20 Liberty Type Gold Coin Specifications:
- Minted in United States
- Minted from 1849-1907 in three stages
- Face Value $20
- Purity 0.900 fine pure gold
- Gold content .9675 troy oz.
- Thickness 2.41 mm
- Diameter 34 mm
- Known as the Double Eagle
- Obverse: Liberty in sharp profile, facing left, and wearing a pearl-studded diadem inscribed “Liberty”, with the 13 stars surrounding her to represent the 13 original colonies. Below Lady Liberty is the year minted.
- Reverse: modeled on the Great Seal of the United States, depicting a heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast beneath a ring of thirteen stars surrounding the words “In God We Trust” and below the stoic eagle states the denomination “Twenty Dollars.”
Gold coins, like the $20 Liberty Type Gold known as the Double Eagle, minted in the U.S. prior to 1933 possess not only gold’s tangible value, they also make a brilliant addition to any collection. The appeal of pre-33 gold coins is centered on gold’s reputation for being a sturdy investment, and enhanced by the value of rare and historically significant coinage.
