Don't Overlook 'P' Coronet Head Gold $20 Double Eagles
Every collector knows what a bullion coin is. It is one that contains a known quantity of precious metal and it is valued according to that metallic content. By those criteria, all precious metal coinage of the United States struck before 1934 was bullion, but it had the added benefit of having a face value stamped on it that matched the metallic value.
There is very little doubt that the Coronet Head double eagle was a creation of the gold discovery in California in 1848 and the subsequent need for the government to put bullion into convenient coin form for use in the economy.
Had it not been for all the gold discovered in California, there is little likelihood that there would have ever been a Coronet Head double eagle, or a Saint-Gaudens double eagle, either. The denominations established in 1792 would have been sufficient.
We can lose sight of the fact that the double eagle was a denomination that simply did not come naturally to the United States or to collectors. The evidence of that fact is everywhere as from the first Mint Act of April 2, 1792, there was no discussion of anything larger than a gold eagle, which had a face value of $10. Had a $20 been in the minds of the Founding Fathers, it probably would have had the honor of being called an eagle.
The trials and tribulations of the new gold eagle are more than ample evidence that anything larger was certainly not in the cards at first. The gold eagle lasted just under a decade before having its production suspended in 1804. There seemed to be no real problem for the economy when the largest gold coin in use became a half eagle.
When the gold eagle returned to production roughly 35 years later there was no real indication that it was seeing heavy use. In fact, there is a rather interesting indication beyond the mintage totals of precisely the opposite. There were . . .
Full story at: Link
There is very little doubt that the Coronet Head double eagle was a creation of the gold discovery in California in 1848 and the subsequent need for the government to put bullion into convenient coin form for use in the economy.
Had it not been for all the gold discovered in California, there is little likelihood that there would have ever been a Coronet Head double eagle, or a Saint-Gaudens double eagle, either. The denominations established in 1792 would have been sufficient.
We can lose sight of the fact that the double eagle was a denomination that simply did not come naturally to the United States or to collectors. The evidence of that fact is everywhere as from the first Mint Act of April 2, 1792, there was no discussion of anything larger than a gold eagle, which had a face value of $10. Had a $20 been in the minds of the Founding Fathers, it probably would have had the honor of being called an eagle.
The trials and tribulations of the new gold eagle are more than ample evidence that anything larger was certainly not in the cards at first. The gold eagle lasted just under a decade before having its production suspended in 1804. There seemed to be no real problem for the economy when the largest gold coin in use became a half eagle.
When the gold eagle returned to production roughly 35 years later there was no real indication that it was seeing heavy use. In fact, there is a rather interesting indication beyond the mintage totals of precisely the opposite. There were . . .
Full story at: Link
posted by A.C. Dwyer at 11:41 PM
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