Bill Jones' 20th century gold type set
$20 Coronet Head, Type 3 (1900-1907)

Owner Comments:

In 1877 mint officials made the final modification to the Liberty $20 gold piece design. The denomination, which had been expressed as "TWENTY D." was spelled out in its entirety as "TWENTY DOLLARS". A careful examination of other design elements, such as the arrangement of the stars in relation to Ms. Liberty's crown on the obverse and the placement of the lettering relative to the eagle's wings on the reverse, indicate that the die makers made other modifications as well. Today collectors refer this last motif for the Liberty $20 coins as the Type 3 Liberty Twenty Dollar gold pieces.

As a type coin the type 3 $20 Liberty coins are plentiful in grades up to MS-64. MS-65 graded pieces are scarce; pieces grading MS-66 are very scarce; and pieces grading MS - 67 or higher are rare. These large gold coins were often handled in bag quantities, and their extremely soft surfaces were very prone to scrapes and other marks. By far the most common date in the Type 3 $20 gold Liberty series is 1904. With a mintage of almost 6.3 million and an estimated 1.3 million survivors, this date is often available at coin shows and auction sales.

The 1907-D double eagle shown above features ultra smooth, satiny surfaces. I added this coin to my collection because it completed a "three types in one year" set that I decided to build after I acquired a 1907 High Relief $20 and a 1907 Arabic numerals St. Gaudens $20 gold piece. There have only been a few instances in the history of U.S. coinage that the mint system has issued three types in one year for the same denomination.