Random Year American Gold Eagle 1 oz

Specifications

Weight

1 oz

Purity

.9167

Mint

US Mint

Country

United States

First struck

1986

About the American Gold Eagle

The American Gold Eagle is the U.S. Mint's flagship gold bullion coin, struck continuously since 1986 under the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985. Each Eagle is 91.67% gold (22 karat). The remaining 8.33% is a copper and silver alloy added for hardness, so a 1 oz Eagle still contains a full troy ounce of gold but resists scratching better than a soft .9999 coin.

The obverse uses Augustus Saint-Gaudens' Liberty design, originally created for the 1907 Double Eagle and widely considered one of the most beautiful coins ever struck in the United States. The reverse, designed by sculptor Miley Busiek for the original 1986 release, shows a male eagle carrying an olive branch to a nest with a female and hatchlings. In 2021 the U.S. Mint introduced a redesigned reverse by Jennie Norris featuring a close-up eagle portrait, so coins dated 2021 onward come in the new design.

Eagles are issued in four sizes: 1 oz, 1/2 oz, 1/4 oz, and 1/10 oz, with legal-tender face values of $50, $25, $10, and $5. The face value is symbolic. The coin's market price tracks gold spot plus a premium that scales inversely with size, so the fractional Eagles cost meaningfully more per gram of gold than the 1 oz.

For U.S. buyers, the Eagle's signature feature is IRA eligibility. American Gold Eagles are explicitly permitted in self-directed precious metals IRAs under U.S. tax law, even though they are 22-karat rather than the .995 minimum that applies to most other IRA-eligible gold. That carve-out is one reason Eagles command higher premiums than equivalent foreign sovereign coins.

Liquidity is the other reason. Every U.S. coin dealer of any size buys and sells Eagles, and most online dealers list both random-year and current-year Eagles in stock at any given time. If you ever need to sell, you will not have to hunt for a buyer or accept a steep buyback discount.

The practical tradeoff is purity versus protection. A Canadian Maple Leaf is .9999 fine and ships in a sealed assay card. An Eagle is .9167 fine and ships loose or in a tube. Handle Eagles by the edge, store them dry, and the alloy will hold up to decades of stacking. If you want pristine surfaces you may prefer a Buffalo or a Maple, but for hands-on bullion the Eagle is built for it.

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