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Double eagle ($20.00)
United States
Value
$20.00 U.S. dollars
Mass
33.431 g
Diameter
34.1 mm (1.34252 in)
Thickness
2.0 mm (0.07874 in)
Edge
Lettered – E Pluribus Unum
Composition
90% gold, 10% copper
Years of minting
1933
Obverse
Design
Liberty holding a torch and olive branch, backed by the rays of the Sun, the U.S. Capitol visible; 46 stars circle design
Designer
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Design date
1907
Reverse
Design
Bald eagle in flight, backed by rays from the Sun, with motto
Designer
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Design date
1907
The 1933 double eagle is a United States 20-dollar gold coin. Although 445,500 specimens of this Saint-Gaudens double eagle were minted in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression,[1] none were ever officially circulated, and all but two were ordered to be melted down. However, 20 more are known to have been rescued from melting by being stolen and found their way into the hands of collectors before later being recovered. Nine of the recovered coins were destroyed, making this one of the world's rarest coins, with only 13 known specimens remaining—only one of which is privately owned, which is known as the Weitzman Specimen. Due to the fact that the coin was never released to the public, it is illegal to privately own any of the 1933 double eagles, with the exception of the Weitzman Specimen.[2] The United States Secret Service is said to investigate reports of the existence of other specimens that come to light.[1]
The two intentionally spared coins are in the U.S. National Numismatic Collection, ten others are held in the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, and the one remaining recovered coin was sold in 2002 to private collector Stuart Weitzman[3] (who remained anonymous at the time) for US$7.59 million (equivalent to $12.2 million as of 2022)[4] —the second-highest price paid at auction for a single U.S. coin.[5][6] The coin sold again to an anonymous buyer at auction in June 2021 for US$18.9 million, making it the most expensive coin ever sold.[7][8]
^ ab"1933 Double Eagle coin on display at Goldsmiths' Hall". BBC News. 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
^"The One That Got Away: In June, the Only 1933 Double Eagle That Can Be Owned Will Be Sold | NGC". www.ngccoin.com. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
^Barron, James (March 10, 2021). "He Owns World Famous Stamps and a Prized Coin. Now He's Selling". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
^"$7,590,000 in 2002 → 2022 | Inflation Calculator". www.in2013dollars.com.
^"$10,016,875 in 2013 → 2022 | Inflation Calculator". www.in2013dollars.com.
^"Stack's Bowers Galleries Sets World Record With Sale Of 1794 Silver Dollar For $10,016,875". PR Newswire. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
^"The 1933 Double Eagle". Sotheby's.
^Holland, Oscar (2021-06-09). "Rare 'Double Eagle' gold coin sells for a record $18.9M". CNN. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
A doubleeagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. (Its gold content of 0.9675 troy ounces [30.09 g] was worth $20 at the 1849...
the Mint records clearly show that no 1933doubleeagles were issued, there were allegedly three weeks in March 1933 when 445,500 specimens were minted,...
as stockpiles of opium and morphine. Today it is known to hold ten 1933DoubleEagle gold coins, a 1974-D aluminum penny, and twelve gold (22-karat) Sacagawea...
Saint-Gaudens doubleeagle in 1907, and many were melted when President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalled gold coins from the public in 1933. Millions of double eagles...
2015. "Stuart Weitzman's 1933DoubleEagle Gold Coin Sells for a Record US$18.9 Million at Sotheby's". "This 1933DoubleEagle, the 'Mona Lisa' of Collector...
investigating reports of the existence of specimens of the extremely rare 1933doubleeagle gold coin, as only a single example of the fourteen known survivors...
situations such as when the Treasury Department sold an extremely rare 1933DoubleEagle. The coin's nominal value of $20 was added to the final sale price...
(German pronunciation: [ˈra͜içs|aːdlɐ]; "Imperial Eagle") is the heraldic eagle, derived from the Roman eagle standard, used by the Holy Roman Emperors and...
further 1933doubleeagles would be seized and not auctioned. In 2003, a Philadelphia woman named Joan Switt Langbord found ten 1933doubleeagles in a safe...
Head eagle is a $10 gold piece or eagle that was struck by the United States Mint continuously from 1907 until 1916, and then irregularly until 1933. The...
Several private sale prices over $2m are not in this list yet. "US DoubleEagle gold coin sold for record $18.9m". BBC. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 8 June...
United States government claims that it never officially released the 1933doubleeagle. Examples of the coin were minted in that year, but were never released...
Malmaison. Among the more famous of his possessions was one of the rare 1933doubleeagle coins, though the coin disappeared before it could be returned to...
centuries (a black single-headed eagle on a golden background), before the emperors adopted the double-headed eagle, beginning with Sigismund of Luxemburg...
($16), is of confusing English colonial nomenclature, called at first the "double doubloon" before settling as the "Spanish doubloon". This was disambiguated...
to the extreme rarity of the 1933DoubleEagle gold coin. The order caused all gold coin production to cease and all 1933 minted coins to be destroyed...
ever recovered known as “Sue”; the most valuable coin ever sold, the 1933DoubleEagle; the Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in America; the world's...
Milwaukee Journal, May 19, 1933, p. 1 David Tripp, Illegal Tender: Gold, Greed, And The Mystery Of The Lost 1933DoubleEagle (Simon and Schuster, 2004)...
of the Lost 1933DoubleEagle (Simon and Schuster, 2004), p. 124 Michael A. Butler, Cautious Visionary: Cordell Hull and Trade Reform, 1933-1937 (Kent...
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