The Ultra Rare Double Eagle Gold Coin That Sold for a Record of $18.9M

One of America's last gold coins ever struck for circulation was sold for a whopping $18.9M in New York in 2021. According to the person who organized the coin's sale, this extremely rare 1933 "Double Eagle" gold coin is now the most valuable and pricey coin sold at an auction. It was able to beat the previous world record by two-fold. 

The 1933 Gold Double Eagles

The coin features Liberty on one side, while the other depicts an eagle in flight. For legal purposes, the Government gave the coin a face value of $20. The 1933 version of the Double Eagle coin was never put into circulation. The US Government had tried to retrieve all of them for melting down. However, they failed to retrieve all of them. 

Only a small handful was spared from this, and the surviving coins eventually entered the market. So, to recover all of them, the Secret Service declared in 1944 that any of these coins found in collectors' hands would be considered stolen. 

The particular one sold at an auction in 2021 was the only Gold Double Eagle that a civilian could legally possess. However, the freedom to own this specific coin was only a result of a legal battle between the US Treasury and the coin's former owner. Its recent sale was also a considerable step up from the coin's selling price in 2022, when it fetched $7.6M. 

Double Eagle Coins in General

The Gold Double Eagle coin was a staple of American coinage during the 1920s and '30s. It was highly prized for its high gold content (99.9%). But did you know there were other factors involved in its creation? Did you also know that the coins we see today aren't the original version of these coins? 

The Gold Double Eagle began its life as a United States minted silver dime, or dime, a coin with a higher copper content than the copper half dollar that came before it. The higher copper content meant that the coins had a higher face value and were easier to counterfeit. 

History

The Gold Double Eagle Coins were first minted in 1921 and were the brainchild of George Berresford Morgan, a Philadelphia coin manufacturing executive. The coins were designed by Louis Ehlert, a coin engraver and a member of the American Numismatic Society. The team in charge of the coin chose the name "Double Eagle" to reflect their relative value instead of the silver dollar it replaced. The coins first saw circulation in 1923 and were minted in silver and gold. The silver coins were called "Dollars," and the gold coins were called "Eagles." 

While they were prevalent in their original form, the ones we see today are not the original coins. These coins are usually referred to as "old" or "original" coins, but they are not the same coins that saw circulation during the first year of production. Since the coins were designed to be hoarded, they were popular with the wealthy and elite. This meant that the average person did not see them, which is why we have these counterfeits. This also meant that you would see more of them in states where coins are common, which is why there was an impressive amount of Gold Double Eagle coins in Las Vegas.