The usual moniker for $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagles is the United States Double Eagle Gold Coin. These magnificent jewels are frequently recognized as the most attractive of all U.S. Mint-issued coins. This helps to explain their widespread appeal to both investors and coin collectors. The coins were in circulation until 1933, when then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to make it illegal for people of the United States to keep gold that might be used as money. To this aim, he remanded all gold coins back to the boundaries of the American Treasury. Sadly, millions upon millions of them were mercilessly melted down before being fashioned into featureless gold bars.
U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins Background and History
U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins were first commissioned by then President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. They earned their famous name as the previously biggest American gold coin up to the times of the California gold rush proved to be the $10 face value gold Eagle. In 1849, Congress allowed Treasury and the U.S. Mint to construct a bigger $20 gold piece so that the bonanza of Western discovered American gold from the Californian gold mines could be promptly coined in coins. Because it was double face value compared to the other pieces of the time, it naturally earned the moniker of “double eagle.”
Additional gold discoveries subsequently discovered in Colorado, Nevada, Alaska, and Arizona forced the U.S. Mint to mint literally hundreds of millions in ounces of U.S. gold in the shape of the these new bigger Double Eagles. This is why they have such a tangible and powerful link to the glory days of the Old West and its gold mining past. To the rest of the world, these $20 gold coins designed by St. Gaudens symbolised the United States’ unfathomable wealth in the second half of the nineteenth century. These coins hail back from the Miner 49ers from old California in 1849 on up to the Alaskan gold rush of 1898. This tangible piece of Americana not only safeguards your wealth but allows you the ability to touch true physical American history inside your two hands.
U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins Physical Characteristics
The three major gold mints of the day, in Denver, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, struck all of these Saint Gaudens Gold Coins. Each piece contains about an ounce of gold.
Coin Design
Numismatists all throughout the world refer to the front side of coins as the “obverse.” The obverse of the U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins depicts Lady Liberty strolling in front of the sun’s dawn rays at the start of a new day. In her right hand, she carries a flame, and in her left, she holds a peace olive branch. The United States Capitol building can be seen in the lower left corner of the obverse backdrop. Along the coin’s borders, stars represent the total number of states in the Union at the time.
The back side of coins is known as the “reverse.” The famous American bird is featured on the reverse of the US Double Eagle Gold Coins. It soars ferociously above a vividly flaming sun picture. Between 1907 and 1908, the national motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” was not featured on any coins. It is depicted on all coins issued between 1908 and 1933. To commemorate the admission of Arizona and New Mexico as states to the United States, they changed the total number of stars surrounding Lady Liberty from 46 to 48 in 1912. On the back side, the face value is plainly marked as “twenty dollars.” Augustus Saint-Gaudens designed these coins, which is why they are known as St. Gaudens gold coins.
Specifications
The Saint Gaudens gold coins were struck continuously by the U.S. Mint from 1907 to 1933. These U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins are minted in only the single size of almost one troy ounce. Their dimensions are as follows:
- Mass: .9675 troy oz
- Diameter: 34 mm
- Thickness: 2.41 mm
- Purity: 90.0% gold
U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins Pricing
The face value of U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins has always been $20, as stated on the coins themselves. Within the United States, each of these eye-catching pieces can be used as legal currency. Spending a coin with a gold content of far over $1,000 for such a sum would be the height of stupidity. This is due to the fact that the intrinsic value of these historical treasures is far more than their face value. This intrinsic worth is largely determined by spot gold prices, yet the coins command a higher premium due to their widespread popularity and collector appeal, as well as their historic history in the Old American West.
The market value of these coins is determined by their intrinsic value. When assessing the worth of a portfolio, the market value determines how much money such U.S. Double Eagle Gold coins contribute. The significant costs incurred by the US Mint in developing, producing, and distributing these coins explain the premium they attract over spot. The market worth and price of these lovely issues fluctuate everyday in tandem with the gyrating price of gold on global markets. You can view and track live gold prices right now by going to our homepage and clicking on the link.
Can IRA Accounts Contain U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins?
If you’re thinking about buying some of these incomparably stunning U.S. Double Eagle Gold Coins for your retirement portfolio, first check to see if you can put them in a precious metals IRA. The Internal Revenue Service is the sole authority that determines which coins are permitted and which are prohibited for use in the United States’ primary retirement vehicles. Their method for determining this boils down to two factors: gold purity and collectability, as well as coin premiums, which they contemplate permitting within your self-directed IRA vehicles.
This account cannot be opened without an initial $5,000 purchase of IRS-approved gold or silver bullion. You can make additional purchases for merely $1,000 minimums each time after you’ve set up such an account, and you can do so as often as you want. If you already have a traditional IRA account, you can transfer it to one of these precious metals retirement vehicles by doing an IRA account rollover. You’ll need to find a new IRA account administrator to monitor and manage all of your precious metals transactions, including purchasing, selling, and keeping them. Your precious metals shipment will be purchased, received, and transshipped to an IRS-approved third-party vault for storage and safekeeping. You will never hold these coins in your hands at any stage during the procedure, otherwise the precious metals will be ruled ineligible for inclusion in your self-directed IRA. These laws and regulations are strictly enforced by the IRS.
A strict.995 fineness of gold is the IRS minimum gold purity level for inclusion in IRAs. Because these Saint Gaudens gold coins only have a purity of.900, they are not permitted in precious metals IRA accounts. Even if they had a high enough gold purity, which they don’t, the IRS would still disavow them due to their primarily collectible character and the greater premiums these coins attract even in typical circulated condition. Certified uncirculated and proof versions are far more expensive than gold spot rates. While these most popular of American circulating gold coins cannot be purchased with IRA funds, they are excellent selections for other types of investment, retirement, and collectible gold bullion coin portfolios. You can purchase them from most respected precious metals, coin, bullion, and jewellery merchants in the United States and around the world.
