A Hefty Price Tag on a Little Coin: The US Double Eagle
When's the last time you made a $20 purchase and paid for it with a single coin? If you lived in the United States in the late 1800s or early 1900s, it could have been done.
The double eagle, first minted in 1849 during the infamous California gold rush, is 90-percent gold and 10-percent copper alloy.
Production of these golden coins officially ended in 1933 when the price of gold changed and the value of the coin was compromised.
Because of this, double eagles are today considered a collectible item, and as such, they can fetch hefty prices at auctions.
Complete sets with several years' worth of these rare coins are considered particularly valuable, particularly if the coins haven't been circulated.
But as valuable as these sets are, none carry as much weight as a double eagle minted in 1933, the last year of production.
None of the 1933 coins were officially released to the public, but several were stolen and ended up in various hands.
The priciest of these coins was auctioned off in recent years for a price tag of $7.
5 million.
Although $20 seems like a small amount in comparison, in 1850 a single double eagle was worth the equivalent of $530 dollars in 2010.
It would make you think twice before tossing your spare coins into your car's cup holder, eh? The double eagle's original design, the Liberty Head, was updated in 1924 when President Theodore Roosevelt decided the U.
S.
coinage was unattractive and needed an artistic update.
He commissioned artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a new design, and that version of the double eagle is today known as the Saint Gaudens.
The artist's original design was highly detailed with tiny complexities and facets, but it had to be toned down to allow for easier production.
The altered version was more simple and also more easily stackable.
As for the very first double eagles, one of the original two coins is housed in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.
C.
, while the whereabouts of the other one still remains a mystery.
The missing coin was gifted to former Treasury Secretary William M.
Meredith and later sold as part of his estate -- the definitive path ends there.
The moral of the story is, keep that $7.
5 million price tag in mind the next time you're browsing old coins at an antique store or your grandma's attic.
The double eagle, first minted in 1849 during the infamous California gold rush, is 90-percent gold and 10-percent copper alloy.
Production of these golden coins officially ended in 1933 when the price of gold changed and the value of the coin was compromised.
Because of this, double eagles are today considered a collectible item, and as such, they can fetch hefty prices at auctions.
Complete sets with several years' worth of these rare coins are considered particularly valuable, particularly if the coins haven't been circulated.
But as valuable as these sets are, none carry as much weight as a double eagle minted in 1933, the last year of production.
None of the 1933 coins were officially released to the public, but several were stolen and ended up in various hands.
The priciest of these coins was auctioned off in recent years for a price tag of $7.
5 million.
Although $20 seems like a small amount in comparison, in 1850 a single double eagle was worth the equivalent of $530 dollars in 2010.
It would make you think twice before tossing your spare coins into your car's cup holder, eh? The double eagle's original design, the Liberty Head, was updated in 1924 when President Theodore Roosevelt decided the U.
S.
coinage was unattractive and needed an artistic update.
He commissioned artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a new design, and that version of the double eagle is today known as the Saint Gaudens.
The artist's original design was highly detailed with tiny complexities and facets, but it had to be toned down to allow for easier production.
The altered version was more simple and also more easily stackable.
As for the very first double eagles, one of the original two coins is housed in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.
C.
, while the whereabouts of the other one still remains a mystery.
The missing coin was gifted to former Treasury Secretary William M.
Meredith and later sold as part of his estate -- the definitive path ends there.
The moral of the story is, keep that $7.
5 million price tag in mind the next time you're browsing old coins at an antique store or your grandma's attic.
