Numismatic

1880 $20 Liberty Gold Double Eagle AU

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In 1880, the Philadelphia Mint struck this impressive twenty dollar gold coin, a survivor of an era before the massive government meltings of the early twentieth century. Containing 0.9675 troy ounces of gold, this piece represents a significant moment in the history of American coinage, preserved in Almost Uncirculated condition. The obverse features a left-facing portrait of Liberty, her hair bound by a band clearly inscribed with her name, encircled by thirteen stars representing the original colonies. On the reverse, a majestic heraldic eagle guards a shield on its chest, positioned beneath a canopy of thirteen stars. The surrounding inscriptions declare the nation of origin as the United States of America and state the face value as twenty dollars, alongside the classic motto "In God We Trust". This specific design, created by James B. Longacre, enjoyed a long production run spanning from 1850 to 1907. Because so many of these gold pieces were melted down in later decades, surviving examples from the 1880 Philadelphia mintage offer a fascinating window into the nation's nineteenth-century monetary past.