Coronet Type 3 Double Eagle 1877-1907 Coin Guide
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Coronet Type 3 Double Eagle 1877-1907
In the early afternoon of January 24, 1848, James Marshall was checking
the progress of the sawmill he was building near Sutter's Fort on the
banks of the American River. There had been huge rainstorms the previous
week that had washed away rocks, topsoil and sediment. Marshall noticed
gold colored flakes everywhere between the pebbles and the next morning
discovered a small yellow nugget on the bottom of the river. Skeptical, he
rode on horseback back to Sutter's Fort where he and John Sutter performed
an assay on the metal he had found, confirming that it was indeed gold. It
wasn't long before the word of the discovery spread, precipitating the
largest and quickest increase in the gold supply the United States had
ever seen.
By the end of 1848, gold was available in such large quantities it
began to depreciate, especially in the mining areas where provisions were
scarce. Eggs sold for $3 each, flour for $8 a barrel, and butter was $16
per pound. A little lunch for two with two bottles of ale could cost more
than $40. In the eastern United States, gold inflation was making silver
coins more valuable. By 1849, the silver dollar was worth $1.03 in gold.
Silver coins began to be melted for profit.
In Washington, Congress was debating a controversial bill that included
two new gold coins that would eventually be minted from California gold.
By February 1849, Mr. James I. McKay, the lame duck Representative from
North Carolina, and Charles G. Atherton, Democrat from New Hampshire, had
pooled their resources to develop joint legislation for a $1 and a $20
gold coin. It was argued that a high denomination coin might be more
convenient to a depositor with a large amount of bullion. During the House
debate, McKay observed that the Act of 1837 required the mint to deliver
whatever current coins the depositor wished. As an inducement to pass the
bill, the coinage authorization would be for two years only. The
legislation wouldn't be renewed if the coins proved unpopular. Many
legislators were critical of the bill, but Senator Thomas Benton of
Missouri predicted that the double eagle would be in greater demand than
the gold dollar. He was right; the double eagle denomination lasted
eighty-five years to the gold dollar's forty. From 1850, when the first
regular issue double eagle was struck, to 1933, when the denomination was
suspended by the emergency decree of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, more
than 174 million pieces were minted.
The Liberty double eagle design is credited to James B. Longacre but
has its roots in Christian Gobrecht's $10 Eagle of 1839. The obverse
features a Greco-Roman head of Liberty facing left, with hair tied in a
bun and curls flowing down to the base of the bust. She is wearing a
coronet inscribed with LIBERTY. Thirteen stars surround the bust with the
date positioned below. The reverse depicts an eagle with outstretched
wings holding an olive branch and arrows. A shield with straight sides
(Type 1) gave way to a rounded ornate shield in 1866 when the motto IN GOD
WE TRUST was added to the oval of stars above the eagle (Type 2). There is
a pattern of rays in a semicircle touching each wing. In 1877, Chief
Engraver William Barber replaced the denomination TWENTY D. with TWENTY
DOLLARS (Type 3). When grading this design, look for traces of wear on the
hair above Liberty's forehead and behind her ear, on her cheek, and on the
coronet. On the reverse, check for wear on the eagle's neck and wing tips,
and on the top of the shield. It's usual to find an abundance of bag marks
on these big, heavy coins. The Type 3 Liberty double eagle was by far the
largest mintage of the three types with 64,137,477 business strikes and
2,426 proofs minted from 1877 through 1907. Five facilities minted the
coin during its thirty-one-year run: Philadelphia (no mintmark) and San
Francisco (S) were the major producers, with Carson City (CC) augmenting
mintage until 1893, New Orleans (O) striking coins only in 1879, and
Denver (D) coming aboard for the last two years of 1906 and 1907.
Mintmarks can be found on the reverse below the eagle. The 1904
Philadelphia mintage alone dwarfed all others with over 6.25 million coins
produced. Collectors looking for a gem example of this design for a type
set will invariably find this date. Unfortunately, counterfeits of this
and other dates abound. Many Lebanese counterfeits were originally sold in
the Middle East and Europe as gold bullion in a recognizable form (double
eagles contain almost an ounce of pure gold). Most of these bogus coins
are easily identified by an expert, but are made well enough to deceive a
novice collector.
Millions of Type 3 Liberty double eagles were shipped overseas in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries to be used as bank reserves. When gold
coin production ceased in 1933 and Americans were required to turn in
their gold at face value for melting, the flow of double eagles out of the
country was enormous. Fortunately, foreign hoards turned out to be the
source of many rarities that would otherwise have been destroyed.
In recent years, average circulated, common date Liberty double eagles
have been used as a hedge against inflation and as an alternative bullion
coin to the Krugerrand, Maple Leaf and American Eagle. Students of Type
3's will discover that though the mintage was vast, high quality
uncirculated specimens are rare and the series contains several major
rarities. These include the 1879-CC, 1879-O, the Philadelphia issues of
1881-87, and the Philadelphia issue of 1892. Alterations exist of the
1881, 1882 and 1885 issues with the "S" (San Francisco) mintmark
removed.
There is a certain tactile pleasure in handling these large gold coins.
It's hard to imagine when we look at today's tokenized, clad coinage that
these beautiful gold pieces were once used as money. Until the early
twentieth century, gold was a universal currency that gave the holder
economic freedom anywhere in the world. This freedom was revoked when gold
was demonetized in 1933, but it has been restored today in the form of the
credit card. Of course, to numismatic purists, the plastic card can hardly
match the aesthetic experience of seeing or touching these magnificent
double eagles.
In 1907, Theodore Roosevelt commissioned noted sculptor-artist Augustus
St. Gaudens to redesign the eagle and double eagle. The resulting $20 gold
coin struck in high relief was fantastically beautiful, but impractical as
coinage. After St. Gaudens' death in August of 1907, Mint Engraver Charles
Barber redesigned the coin in low relief. It was issued until 1933, when
all gold coinage ceased.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter: 34 millimeters Weight: 33.436 grams Composition: .900 gold,
.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .9675 ounce pure gold
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Akers, David W., United States Gold Coins,
Volume VI, Double Eagles 1849-1933, Paramount Publications, Englewood, OH,
1982. Bowers, Q. David, Adventures with Rare Coins Bowers & Ruddy
Galleries, Los Angeles, 1979. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete
Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. & Doubleday, New York,
1988. Metcalf, William E. America's Gold Coinage Reflections on the Gold
Coinage of the Twentieth Century by Elizabeth Jones, ANS, New York, 1989.
Winter, Douglas, & Cutler, Lawrence, M.D., Gold Coins of the Old West:
The Carson City Mint 1870-1893, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro,
NH, 1994. Winter, Douglas, New Orleans Mint Gold Coins 1839-1909, Bowers
& Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1992.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.
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