Tommy44 Gold Type Set
$20 Coronet Head, Type 3 (1877-1907)

Owner Comments:

A common date popular $20 Liberty or Coronet Double Eagle with a mintage of 1,874,584 pieces.. Double Eagles were produced by the millions. Large quantities of double eagles were melted in the 1930s by the government after they were called in under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Although many of the double eagles exported in bulk in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were melted—records show that most sent to the United Kingdom were recoined into sovereigns—millions remained in banks. Large quantities of double eagles were found in the vaults of European banks beginning in the 1940s, and were placed on the numismatic market.

This example was one of the lucky ones that made its way back from Europe via gold importer John Dowd from Albany NY and I was fortunate enough to buy it from him in the 1970s.