Regular issue double eagles come in two major types and six minor varieties as follows: •
Liberty Head (Coronet) 1849–1907 • Liberty Head, no motto, value "TWENTY D." 1849–1866 • Liberty Head, with motto, value "TWENTY D." 1866–1876 • Liberty Head, with motto, value "TWENTY DOLLARS" 1877–1907 •
Saint-Gaudens 1907–1933 • Saint-Gaudens, high relief, Roman numerals, no motto 1907 • Saint-Gaudens, low relief, Arabic numerals, no motto 1907–1908 • Saint-Gaudens, low relief, Arabic numerals, with motto 1908–1933
Liberty Head Due to the less desirable artwork and therefore lower demand, Liberty Head (Coronet) $20 gold pieces are less often encountered, and the common subtype commands less than the Saint-Gaudens type. In 1866, the motto "
In God We Trust" was added to the double eagle, creating a second subtype. In 1877, the coin's denomination design on the reverse was changed from "TWENTY D." to "TWENTY DOLLARS" creating a third and final subtype for the series. An 1879 pattern coin was made for the quintuple
Stella using a design combining features of the Liberty Head double eagle and Stella pattern coin and using the same alloy as the Stella (90 parts gold, three parts silver, and seven parts copper); this coin was stolen in July 2008.
Saint-Gaudens The Saint-Gaudens double eagle is named for the designer,
Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of the premier sculptors in American history.
Theodore Roosevelt imposed upon him in his last few years to redesign the nation's coinage at the beginning of the 20th century. Saint-Gaudens' work on the high-relief $20 gold piece is considered to be one of the most extraordinary pieces of art on any American coin. The mint eventually insisted on a low-relief version, as the high-relief coin took up to eleven strikes to bring up the details which was harder for the older die presses. This high-relief also caused irregular stacking for banking purposes. Only 12,367 of these coins were struck in 1907. These coins easily top the $10,000 price in circulated grades, but can reach nearly a half million dollars in the best states of preservation. There were several changes in the early years of this design. The first coins issued in 1907 design featured a date in Roman numerals, but this was changed later that year to the more convenient Arabic numerals. The motto "In God We Trust" was omitted from the initial design, as Roosevelt felt that putting the name of God on money that could be used for immoral purposes was inappropriate. By act of Congress, the motto was added in mid-1908. The design of the Saint-Gaudens coin was slightly changed once more when New Mexico and Arizona became states in 1912, and the number of stars along the rim was accordingly increased from 46 to 48. Double eagles were routinely minted through 1933, although few of the very last years' coinages were released before the gold recall legislation of that year. Accordingly, these issues (when the U.S. Treasury permits individuals to own them) bring very high prices. The Saint-Gaudens obverse design was reused in the
American eagle gold bullion coins that were instituted in 1986. The early 1907 double eagles and the 1986–1991 gold American eagles are the only instances of Roman numerals denoting the date on American coinage. The 2009 ultra-high relief American Eagle also used Roman numerals. On January 22, 2009, the U.S. Mint released ultra-high relief double eagles using the deep design that Saint-Gaudens envisioned, so that the U.S. Mint could, as its web site states "fulfill Augustus Saint-Gaudens' vision of an ultra high relief coin that could not be realized in 1907 with his legendary Double Eagle liberty design." Despite that claim, however, the mint actually reaffirmed just what doomed the first attempts in 1907. The coin's highly abradable 0.9999 fine gold composition and the multiple strikes required to bring up the design are not practical for business strikes. Because of their higher gold content, and greater striking pressure, the coins are 27 mm wide and 4 mm deep (the same diameter as a gold eagle), rather than the 34 mm × 2 mm that had been established for U.S. $20 gold coins. The initial selling price was $1239. With the rising price of gold by June it had climbed to $1339, and by December to $1489. There was no limit on the coinage of these one time uncirculated issues, which bear the date "MMIX". In September, the one coin per person ordering restriction was removed. The final mintage was 115,178. These coins were minted at the West Point Mint, but none of them bear the "W" mint mark, making them particularly unusual. ==1933 double eagle==