1926-D $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle PCGS MS63

David Akers: “the 1926-D is one of the rarest … issues in the entire series.”

Here is a rare beauty for a sophisticated numismatist, one who desires only truly rare specimens for his or her collection. Jeff Garrett writes, “This date is much rarer than the 1924–D, 1924–S, 1925–D and 1925–S. Most of the ample mintage was destroyed in the great melts of the 1930s. Of the coins that survived, most grade MS 60 to MS 64. Gems are exceedingly rare.” PCGS has graded 58 as MS63 with only 34 finer. Collector’s Universe gives this issue a price of $40,000.00 in MS63

The Denver Mint, where this rarity was produced in 1926. Photo: Library of Congress.

David Akers writes (back in 1988), “the 1926-D is one of the rarest and most underrated issues in the entire series. When available, which is not often, the typical 1926-D is MS-60 or 61 at best. A full MS-63 1926-D is really a very rare coin and above that level, the 1926-D is very nearly impossible to find. When looking at a fine collection of Saint-Gaudens double eagles … the 1924-S, 1925-S and 1926-D are, in my view, the real standards of excellence of a collection, because I have never, repeat never, seen a single collection that contained gems of all three of these issues, and not many that had a gem of even one or two of them.”