United States 1922 20 dollars
This specimen was lot 6224 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Costa Mesa, CA, August 2021), where it sold for $3,360. The catalog description[1] noted,
"1922 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle. MS-65 (PCGS). A captivating Gem with superior eye appeal for the assigned grade. Vivid rose-orange luster blankets surfaces that are fully endowed with billowy mint luster. Many of the 1,375,500 double eagles that the Philadelphia Mint produced in 1922 were exported during the 1920s. These coins remained as part of foreign bank reserves until after World War Two, when they began to make their way back to the United States. Today, the 1922 is readily available in lower Mint State grades, but it is grossly underrated at and above the MS-65 level when compared to the truly common date 1924 and 1927. A find for the astute double eagle enthusiast."
This issue is a common date of a type issued 1908-33. Altho minted in the millions, some dates such as the 1924-D and 1924-S are rare because they were melted after the gold surrender of 1933. The type circulated little anyway, being supplanted by paper currency. The reverse was modified in 1908 to add "IN GOD WE TRUST".
Recorded mintage: 1,375,500.
Specification: 33.43 g, 0.900 fine gold, edge lettered E PLURIBUS UNUM.
Catalog reference: KM 131.
- Breen, Walter H., Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U. S. and Colonial Coins, New York: Doubleday, 1987.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Yeoman, R. S., and Kenneth Bressett (ed.), A Guide Book of United States Coins, 65th Ed., Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing, 2011.
- Alexander, David T., Coin World Comprehensive Catalog & Encyclopedia of United States Coins, Sidney, OH: Amos Press, 1995.
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