My Type Set 9.4 - Gold Double Eagles ($20)

That is a very nice set. The toughest type to find in grades beyond MS-63 is the Type II Liberty Head with "In God we trust" and "TWENTY D." The reason is none have been recovered from shipwrecks.

Here are the pieces in my collection. This one is graded MS-63.



I still have this one, which graded AU-58. It's actually quite pleasing, and it goes to show that you can get a nice example of this type if you don't get hung up on the Mint State thing. I didn't sell it when I bought the previous piece, because I would not have gotten much more than melt for it. I bought this raw years ago and had it certified.

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JohnMilton, the AU-58...did you buy it from a dealer you knew well and/or were you sure it would grade in the mid-AU range or higher ?

 

I bought it because it was very attractive at $550 when common date Liberty $20 gold were going for $475. Why would I blindly accept a dealer’s word? You know me better than that.

 

Killer set!

 

Doug Winter for CoinWeek wrote a few pieces talking about the lack of shipwreck finds for Type 1 Liberty Heads which I think can also extend to Type II's to an extent:

https://coinweek.com/us-coins/how-rare-are-non-shipwreck-gem-type-one-double-eagles-an-update/

https://coinweek.com/us-coins/classic-u-s-coins-when-did-type-one-double-eagles-become-popular/

 

Since I am more interested in the type coin than the source, I filled the Type I slot in my set with an 1857-S $20 gold from the SS Central America recovery operation. It is one of the “scarce ones” that is not in a PCGS gold foil holder. According to the Grey Sheet that makes it less valuable.

Winter is spot on as to why there are so few high grade Type I and II double Eagles that are not ship wreck discovery coins. Twenty Dollars was a month’s wages for many years and few people could not afford to put that much aside doing nothing but sitting around as a collector’s item. Collectors were also not as obsessed or exacting with high grades as they are now. The grades were “Unc.” (MS- 60, 61 and 62) and Gem Unc. (MS- 64, 65 and 66).

Usually the Gem Unc. premiums were not as much as they are today. Back in the 1960s when I was collecting the eight piece gold type set, an Unc. common date $10 Liberty gold cost $45 and the higher grade piece was $47.50. This was the Stacks’ price which would have been full retail. I bought the Gem piece. Today it’s in an NGC MS-65 holder.

 

Nope, the 1907 High Relief was the last one I needed for my NGC Registry Set.
I ended up with:
$20 Liberty Head 1852 No Motto AU-53
$20 Liberty Head 1870 S Motto / TWENTY D. XF-45
$20 Liberty Head 1888 Motto / TWENTY DOLLARS MS-61
$20 Saint-Gaudens 1907 No Motto / High Relief / Wire Rim AU-50
$20 Saint-Gaudens 1908 No Motto MS-64
$20 Saint-Gaudens 1924 Motto MS-63

 

Impressive, congrats !

 

A very nice Type Set--it's good to see gold coins that have some crust (coppery, goldish or reddish natural toning of the surface copper) and that have not been dipped prior to encapsulation.

 

There are some good articles on Liberty Double Eagles in the CoinWeek archives and at Doug Winter's blog.

 

FYI Kanga...the pics aren't showing of your nice coins.

I'm not sure why....did you post links to a website ? It would be better to load them here using the UPLOAD A FILE feature next to POST REPLY.

 

When I made the original post I used the Image icon on the tool bar.
When we had the recent website upgrade the Image icon and whatever was posted using it got disabled.
I'm currently learning to use the "Upload a File" button.

 

I must have shopped at the wrong place OR the price has come way down over the years.
I paid about what the Grey Sheet is now listing them for.

 

1907 High Relief Saints have been weak last few years. Even noted in David Winter's CoinWeek year-end "Hot & Not" column.

Only the high-end premiums have held up.