$20 Liberty Gold Coins Certified

There are a number of benefits to owning graded gold coins for both collectors and investors. Prospective buyers are much more confident about coins that have been certified by one of the major third-party grading services: Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) and Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS).

These two companies provide the essential service of authenticating and grading any coins that are submitted to them. Over the last three decades, independent grading and encapsulation of valuable coins has helped revolutionize the numismatic industry. Grading services have added an additional layer of trust to the process of buying and selling coins.

We sell a wide variety of graded gold coins from NGC and PCGS. The $20 Liberty Gold double eagles shown below have all been certified. Each coin is safely protected by a hard plastic holder and includes a label that identifies the coin and its grade. This makes it easy to view the coin without risking any damage. It also makes it convenient for prospective buyers to know exactly what they are getting.

The Liberty $20 Gold Coin, known as the double eagle, was the first coin of this denomination ever issued in the United States. The California Gold Rush in 1849 brought so much extra gold bullion into the country that the new double eagle was introduced just a year later in 1850. It was designed by the Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint at the time, James B. Longacre.

The design shows the head of Lady Liberty facing left. While this image was similar to past representations of Miss Liberty on American coins, it became the standard used for future designs introduced during the 19th century. Longacre's portrayal of Lady Liberty also appeared on the short-lived Liberty Head Gold Dollar, which only used the design for five years. By contrast, the double eagle maintained Longacre's design from 1850 until 1907.

A number of interesting events in history have led to large numbers of the Liberty $20 double eagle being hidden in hoards. Over the course of the 20th century a number of these hoards were discovered, which naturally caused a great deal of excitement in the coin collecting community. Sometimes the coins were buried under a home (Baltimore Hoard) or, more often, were lost in shipwrecks at sea. The ships S.S. Republic, S.S. Central America, and S.S. Yankee Blade all were carrying loads of gold bullion and gold coins, including $20 double eagles. The market for the Liberty double eagle was certainly invigorated by the recovery of these shipwrecks primarily during the 1980s.

In fact, these impressive treasure troves of $20 Gold Liberty coins (sometimes simply called "$20 Libs") are still being uncovered even in the 21st century. One such discovery in California a few years ago has been dubbed the "Saddle Ridge Hoard," and was valued as high as $10 million.