$20 Double Eagle Gold Coin
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$20 Double Eagle
Liberty Head Reverse
$20 Double Eagle
Liberty Head Obverse
$20 Double Eagle
Saint Gaudens Obverse
$20 Double Eagle
Saint Gaudens Obverse
The $20 Double Eagle Gold Coin or just the Double Eagle was the largest gold coin ever issued for circulation in the United States by the US Mint. The Double Eagle was minted from 1849 to 1933 and was part of the gold coinage system started by the US Mint and revolving around the gold Eagle that had denomination of 10 dollars and was a base unit of the system. Most of the other US gold coins, including $20 Double Eagle gold coin, were aligned to be a fraction or a multiple of the Eagle.
As the $20 Double Eagle gold coin was the last one in the series of the gold Eagle coins, there were only two major designs (comparing to six major designs of smaller denominations) with three variations for each design: Liberty Head and Saint Gaudens. Unlike other denominations of gold dollars circulated in the United States, the $20 Double Eagle gold coin had the same specifications, which are as follows:
| Gold composition: | 0.900 |
| Gold content: | 0.9677 troy ounce of pure gold |
| Weight: | 33.4360 g |
| Diameter: | 34.0 mm |
Liberty Head (Coronet Head) (1849 – 1907)
The Liberty Head type was designed by James B. Longacre and was the same for all denominations of US gold coins. There're three major varieties of the Liberty Head Double Eagles: no motto above the eagle with the value "Twenty D." was minted from 1849 to 1866; with the motto "In God We Trust" above the eagle and with the same "Twenty D." for the value, which was minted from 1866 to 1876; and with the motto and the value changed to "Twenty Dollars" minted from 1877 to 1907.
Saint Gaudens (1907 – 1933)
The Saint Gaudens Double Eagles are probably the most popular gold coins of the United States and named after their designer, Augustus St. Gaudens. The design of $20 Double Eagle gold coins by St. Gaudens was so likeable and successful that it was later repeated for US bullion gold coins – American Gold Eagles. There were three major varieties of the type: high relief with roman numerals and no motto only for a number of coins minted in 1907; low relief with Arabic numerals and no motto minted in 1907 and 1908; and low relive with Arabic numerals and motto under the eagle minted from 1908 to 1933.
You can see some current listings for $20 Double Eagle gold coins here:
