A lot of people dream of finding treasure. Since coins are so common, one common fantasy is to suddenly find an old coin in perfect shape that no one else has seen. Even though the dream sounds fun, most of the rare coins have been found, especially the most expensive and rare ones.
A $20 coin that is worth almost $19 million today is a great example of wealth in the form of a coin. The 1933 $20 Double Eagle is the name of this very rare coin. There are only three known to exist today.
This coin was made in 1933, during the Great Depression, but it was never used in circulation because President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 6102 banned private holding of gold, except for gold that was thought to be valuable as a collectible.
When this became the Gold Reserve Act in 1934, it tightened restrictions on who could own and use gold and made people in the country trade in their gold coins for other money of the same legal value. By the end of the year, no more double eagles were in circulation, and many other coins were destroyed and melted down to help the economy.
Many coins were made of nickel or other less flashy metals, but this one was made of gold all the way through. To keep the valuable gold inside, some owners of the coins that made it through the government’s order melted them down, making even more of them disappear and making them even harder to find.
Its strange shape also adds to its history. Augustus Saint-Gaudens designed it. He is known for making important contributions to American sculpture and numismatics. It shows Liberty standing with a torch in her left hand and an olive branch in her right.
There are 46 stars around her, the Capitol building in the lower left corner, and the words “LIBERTY” and “1933” on one side. The other side is just as amazing. It has the words “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “TWENTY DOLLARS,” and “IN GOD WE TRUST” at the top, along with a picture of an eagle flying over the sun.
He was supposed to redesign US currency to better show how the country had changed over time. This was one of his last designs; it was made in 1907, not long before he died. He never saw how the plan was made or what it turned out to be.
The Double Eagle coin today
It’s not clear how many of these coins were saved from the first destruction, but about 20 are thought to have been saved. Because they are historically important, the federal government kept two of them in the US National Numismatic Collection, which is part of the Smithsonian museum. Another 10 are thought to be safely stored in Fort Knox’s United States Bullion Depository to keep them safe.
Only one of the others is known to have been sold at sale in 2002 for an amazing $7.59 million. It was bought by a private collector. According to Smithsonian magazine, this coin was auctioned off again in 2021 for an even more unbelievable $18.9 million, making it the most valuable gold rare coin ever sold at auction.
The rest of the coins are thought to have been lost or destroyed over time, either by being burned down for their gold value or just being lost to time. If one of these coins showed up again, it might be worth as much as the last one that was auctioned off, but it doesn’t look like that will happen very often.
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