1925 $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle PCGS MS65+

Gold specialist David Akers writes, "The 1925 is nearly always very sharply struck. The lustre and color on most specimens is typically very good to excellent. All specimens are frosty. Although the color varies rather widely, most specimens are in the orange or rose colored gold category. Many examples also have appealing greenish gold iridescence or highlights."

PCGS has graded 147 in MS65+, with 1,342 finer. This is an affordable option for a gem plus graded Saint!

Numismatic scholar Cornelius Vermeule compares Saint-Gaudens' Liberty with the Winged Victory of Samothrace (above, circa 200-190 BCE).

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."