$20 Gold Coin - Double Eagle

A gold coin from the United States, the $20 part is it face value to make the coin legal in the eyes of the law, at the time of mintage the price of a troy ounce of gold was $20.67 and these coins contained 0.9675 troy ounce of gold, hence the $20 face value.

In 1849 the US government passed a bill that allowed the US Mint to produce gold coins, the name soon given to the $20 gold coins was a 'Double Eagle', Why the Double Eagle? Well in 1792 the government in setting up the US mint gave the names of "eagle," "half-eagle" and "quarter-eagle" to its coinage of the day and the 'Eagle' had a face value of $10, so with the introduction of the $20 coin, it soon adopted the name of the 'Double Eagle'.

$20 gold coins or the 'Double Eagle' owes itself to the Californian gold rush and with gold reserves being located in other parts of the US that allowed the US mint to produce plenty of the $20 coins. Worldwide the double eagle became very synonymous with the United States and its riches, which in turn led to the United States being a superpower as it is today.

Liberty Head (Coronet)

Regular production of the $20 gold coin began in 1850 when just over 1.3 million were minted, these and all those minted up to 1866 are commonly known as Liberty Head (Coronet) Type One. These had no motto on them and the denomination design value was displayed as Twenty D.

From 1866 for 10 years the Coin is known as the Liberty Head (Coronet), Type Two though the denomination design value was still on the coin as Twenty D. the motto “In God We Trust” was added.

1877 to 1907 the third and final design of Liberty Head (Coronet) came into existence, Type Three kept the motto but the denomination design value was now displayed as Twenty Dollars.

St. Gaudens

Theodore Roosevelt got Augustus St. Gaudens, at the time, a leading American sculptor to redesign the coinage for the new century, and in 1907 the St Gaudens $20 coin began being minted. 1907 itself saw three types of coins minted, the Liberty Head (Coronet) Type Three and the two types of the St. Gaudens. Type One of the St. Gaudens is known as High Relief, the design was so extraordinary for a coin that it took 11 strikes to bring the detail up and the banks also had problems with storing it, so the mint released another version known as Low Relief. The 1907 St. Gaudens High relief had no motto and the date was in Roman numerals, the low relief had its date in Arabic. Congress objected to the omission of the motto and it was reinstated from the 1908 edition and the date remained as Arabic, this main design remained until 1933, a slight change occurred in 1912 when the number of stars around the rim increased to take into account the new states that were formed.

1933 Rarity

Though in 1933 $20 gold coins were minted these soon had to be withdrawn because at the time the government prohibited individuals owning more than $100 of gold, any excess they had, they were by law forced to hand it into the treasury for which they were paid $20.67 per troy ounce for it, of course some of the 1933 double eagles got out in the public domain but are so rare.

In 2002, Auctioneers Sotheby's sold a 1933 Double Eagle coin for $7.59 million, this coin was believed to have been part of a collection belonging to King Farouk of Egypt, but a legal battle ensued before it could go to auction and only was put up after the dealer selling the coin agreed to split the proceeds with the US Mint.

In 2005 the US treasury department seized 10 double eagles from a lady who was going through her late fathers possessions and found the coins. The reason given out by the director of the mint “that the rare coins, which were never put in circulation, had been taken from the Mint in an unlawful manner in the mid-1930's and now were recovered. But in 2010 this case is still unresolved as to who are the actual owners of the coin.

1908 St. Gaudens Double Eagle NO MOTTO $20 gold coin $1,331.00 (5 Bids) Time Left: 57m

1905 $20 Gold Liberty XF coin NGC-45 $1,429.00 (1 Bids) Time Left: 1h 15m

1897-S LIBERTY $20 ST DOUBLE EAGLE GOLD COIN PCGS MS61 $1,525.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 1h 31m

1925 PCGS MS63 $20 ST. GAUDENS GOLD COIN $1,650.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 1h 43m

LOT OF 3 $20 St Gaudens Eagle Coin Gold HGE .5 Grm $0.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 1h 47m

$20 St Gaudens Eagle Coin Gold HGE .5 Grm 10mm diameter $0.99 (0 Bids) Time Left: 1h 48m

1924 SAINT $20 ST NICE DOUBLE EAGLE GOLD COIN PCGS MS62 $1,539.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 2h 19m

1927 $20.00 St. Gaudens Double Eagle Gold Coin BU-MS $1,450.00 (0 Bids) Time Left: 2h 21m

	One Pound Coin The One Pound coin was introduced to the British monetary system in 1983, to replace the One Pound note. The One Pound note was finally withdrawn from circulation in 1988, so for 5 years there were a pound note and a pound coin in use.