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What a double eagle is
A double eagle is a United States $20 gold coin — Liberty Head or Saint-Gaudens — with 0.9675 troy ounces of gold. “Double” means double the $10 eagle, not two heads.
A double eagle is a United States $20 gold coin.
The name is old mint language. The $10 coin was called an eagle. Twenty dollars was a double eagle. It is not a two-headed coin.
The metal
Each one contains 0.9675 troy ounces of fine gold in a 90% gold alloy. That is why a shop does not treat it as a full modern ounce. They use 0.9675, then add any collector premium. What a troy ounce is. Pre-33 vs modern Eagles.
The two looks
Liberty Head coins run 1849–1907. Saint-Gaudens coins run 1907–1933. Common dates in ordinary circulated grades are mostly a gold bid plus a little. Better dates and better original surfaces leave melt and become a collector conversation.
The 1933 Saint-Gaudens double eagle is a famous legal story. It is not the coin in a cigar box. 1933 context.
What ruins the premium
Cleaning, mounting as jewelry, holes, and fake holders. Don’t clean. Fake slabs. Details grades.
If you have a handful, we weigh, we authenticate, we look at dates, then we decide if this is melt-plus or a coin someone will hunt.
Continue in the coin and money library. Related visitor guides: for shop visitors.