1850 $20 Liberty Head Double Eagle NGC AU55

Here’s an attractive, lightly circulated specimen of the inaugural year of circulation strikes of the popular, long-running Liberty Head double eagle series (1850-1907). The 1850 twenty has always been cherished by numismatists, both as a first-year issue and due to its roots in the California Gold Rush. Despite its large mintage (1,170,261) demand for the 1850 has always been robust, pushing prices up.

NGC has graded 360 as AU55 with 279 finer. Collectors Universe gives this issue a price of $8,000.00 in AU55.

James B. Longacre, the artist-engraver who crafted the Liberty Head design. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Gold specialist Doug Winter writes, "The 1850 double eagle is a very popular issue as it is the first collectible issue from this mint. It is reasonably available in lower grades ... but it becomes harder to locate in the middle About Uncirculated range and it is scarce in properly graded AU58. This issue is very scarce and popular in Uncirculated and it is rare in MS62, very rare in MS63 and exceedingly rare above this."

Winter discusses the strike of this issue: “New dies and extra care were employed to produce this issue, and as a result the 1850 is among the best-struck Type One double eagles. The obverse is usually seen with nearly full detail on the hair of Liberty, full radial lines in the stars, and sharply defined denticles. The reverse is also seen with a sharp strike and detail on the feathers, and at the border is often full or nearly so. The collector should be able to locate a coin with very good detail with little effort.”