Pre-33 $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle

Specifications

Weight

0.9675 oz

Purity

.9

Mint

US Mint

Country

United States

First struck

1850

About the Pre-33 $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle

**Pre-33 $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle.** Designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre and authorized after the California Gold Rush flooded the country with bullion. A $10 Eagle was no longer the largest practical denomination, so Congress greenlit a $20 piece in 1849. Production ran from 1850 through 1907, when Augustus Saint-Gaudens replaced the design with his now-famous standing Liberty.

The specs are simple and worth memorizing. Each coin weighs 33.436 grams gross with 30.0926 grams of pure gold, which works out to 0.9675 troy oz AGW at .900 fine. The remaining 10% is copper, which is why the surfaces tone warm and the coin wears well in circulation. Diameter is 34 mm. You will see three Liberty Head subtypes: Type 1 (no motto, 1850-1866), Type 2 ("IN GOD WE TRUST" added, 1866-1876), and Type 3 (denomination spelled "TWENTY DOLLARS", 1877-1907).

This coin circulated. Most survivors grade XF to AU, with mint state examples concentrated in common dates from the late 1890s and early 1900s. Bullion-grade Liberty Doubles trade as a near-melt product, while better-date and high-grade pieces carry numismatic premiums that can dwarf the gold value. For a stacker, the cheapest XF/AU common-date coin is what you want. For a collector, date and mintmark do the talking.

Mintmarks tell you where it was struck: P (Philadelphia, no mark), O (New Orleans), S (San Francisco), CC (Carson City), and D (Denver, late issues). Carson City coins carry their own following and rarely show up at bullion-grade prices. New Orleans and Philadelphia issues from the 1850s and 1860s also include scarce dates. If you are buying purely for gold content, ask the dealer for "common date" or "random date" and you will pay the lowest premium they offer.

A quick note on the "Pre-33" part. President Franklin Roosevelt's 1933 Executive Order 6102 required Americans to turn in most gold coins, and many were melted at the Treasury. Coins that escaped, often through European bank vaults or private hands, are what survive today. That history is part of why these coins still trade so actively, and why dealers price them as a distinct product rather than as generic gold.

If you want one coin that gets you almost a full ounce of pre-1933 American gold for close to spot, the Liberty Double Eagle is the cleanest choice. It is heavier than a $10 Eagle, more available than a Saint-Gaudens in circulated grades, and the price spreads between dealers can be wider than they should be, so it pays to comparison shop.

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