Liberty Head double eagle

Liberty Head double eagle ($20)

United States
Value	20 United States dollars
Mass	33.431 g
Diameter	34.1 mm (1.342 in)
Edge	reeded
Composition	90% gold, 10% copper
Gold	.96750 troy oz
Years of minting	1849–1907
Mint marks	CC, D, O, S. Found immediately below the eagle on the reverse. Philadelphia Mint specimens lack mint mark.
Obverse
Design	Head of Liberty
Designer	James B. Longacre
Design date	1849
Design discontinued	1907
Reverse
Design	Heraldic eagle. Type I
Designer	James B. Longacre
Design date	1849
Design discontinued	1866
Design	Type II, with "In God We Trust"
Designer	James B. Longacre
Design date	1866
Design discontinued	1876
Design	Type III, with "Dollars" spelled out
Designer	James B. Longacre
Design date	1877
Design discontinued	1907

The Liberty Head double eagle or Coronet double eagle is an American twenty-dollar gold piece struck as a pattern coin in 1849, and for commerce from 1850 to 1907. It was designed by Mint of the United States Chief Engraver James B. Longacre.

The largest denomination of United States coin authorized by the Mint Act of 1792 was the eagle, or ten-dollar piece. The large amount of bullion being brought east after the discovery of gold in California in the 1840s caused Congress to consider new denominations of gold coinage. The gold dollar and double eagle were the result. After considerable infighting at the Philadelphia Mint, Chief Engraver James B. Longacre designed the double eagle, and it began to be issued for commerce in 1850. Only one 1849 double eagle is known to survive; it rests in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian.

The coin was immediately successful; merchants and banks used it in trade. It was struck until replaced by the Saint-Gaudens double eagle in 1907, and many were melted when President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalled gold coins from the public in 1933. Millions of double eagles were sent overseas in international transactions throughout its run to be melted or placed in bank vaults. Many of the latter have now been repatriated to feed the demand from collectors and those who desire to hold gold.

Under the Mint Act of 1792, the largest-denomination coin was the gold eagle, or ten-dollar piece. Also struck were a half eagle ($5) and quarter eagle ($2.50). Bullion flowed out of the United States for economic reasons for much of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The eagle's size made it convenient for use in international transactions, and, faced with the likelihood that most being struck were exported, the Director of the Mint Elias Boudinot ended its production in 1804. In 1838, coinage resumed after Congress revised the weight and fineness of American gold coins. The new eagle was struck to a design by Christian Gobrecht, who was one of the Mint's engravers.

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