1909-S $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle PCGS MS63 Ex.Rive d'Or Collection

Here’s an attractive example that won’t break the bank for a numismatist who would like to add a choice S-Mint “Saint” to his or her numismatic holdings.

Gold specialist David Akers writes, “Most 1909-S double eagles are very sharply struck and have ‘soft’ frosty surfaces and some granularity. A few are rather satiny....Lustre is good to very good ....Color, however, is a strong point with most specimens having very appealing greenish gold to light rose or orange color. Many specimens have distinctly ‘rounded’ rims."

PCGS has graded 2,278 examples as MS63 with 2,687 finer. Collectors Universe gives this issue a price of $3,000.00 in MS63.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens in a self-portrait from 1867; he crafted the stunning design for the $20 double eagle (1907-1933). Image: Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site.

Numismatic scholar and art critic Cornelius Vermeule writes, "The double eagle is perhaps the most majestic coin ever to bear our national imprint. The Liberty striding forward is as grand in miniature as the Hellenistic Victory of Samothrace on a heroic scale. The eagle in flight against the sun on the reverse achieves complete domination of motion and expanding vista over the confines of a tiny tondo. Although the authorities at the Mint flattened the relief to facilitate striking and handling, this coin has remained a forceful demonstration that modern, mechanical coinage need in no way be pedestrian."