1854-S $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle NGC AU53 Ex.Richmond

     We are offering a specimen from the first year of the San Francisco mint: the 1854-S $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle. This rare collectible was struck as a result of the California Gold Rush that began in the late 1840s. It was as the Treasury was stockpiling gold that Congress passed legislation to craft and produce the Double Eagle coin in 1849. Shortly thereafter, engraver James B. Longacre created the design of the largest circulating gold coin in American history. This rare piece would make an excellent addition to a type set of U.S. gold coins or a full run of the Liberty Head Double Eagle series (1850-1907).

      The obverse of the $20 Double Eagle features a left-facing Liberty design influenced by Greco-Roman sculpture. A pearl-encrusted coronet inscribed with “Liberty” adorns her wavy hair, which flows down her neck. Thirteen stars that represent the original colonies/states surround her bust. The date is found below the image of Liberty. The reverse presents Longacre's exaggerated design, featuring a heraldic eagle, one that is quite different from eagles previously found upon our coinage. Dramatic rays emanate from the national bird, and a circle of 13 stars is found hovering over the eagle. Two contrived ribbons encircle the awkward creature, one of which the eagle holds firmly in its beak. The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is split between the two ribbons. A federal shield is found on its breast and arrows and the ivy branch of peace are found, respectively, in its right and left talons. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and TWENTY D. surround the bird at the coin's rim.

     Art historian Cornelius Vermeule criticized the double eagle and other Longacre coins showing Liberty, calling them routine. However, he did feel that the reverse "has some commendable points of heraldic imagery" and equated that side to "the frontispiece for a patriotic brochure." The Daily Alta California in May 1850 quoted an article from an Eastern newspaper, saying "we cannot say that we admire it ... [the eagle on the reverse is] imperfectly formed, and marred by some adjacent flummery intended for radiance we suppose, by which the whole thing is rendered confused." David Bowers writes that despite the negative contemporary reaction, the design of the double eagle has been very popular among collectors for some time now.