– The Mystery of the 1933 Double Eagle: A $20 Gold Coin with a Controversial History
Minted during the Great Depression, the coin was designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and intended to be a symbol of the nation's strength, featuring a majestic figure of Lady Liberty on the obverse and a powerful eagle in flight on the reverse.
However, due to the financial crisis, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the confiscation of gold coins and bullion in 1933 as part of a broader effort to stabilize the economy by taking the U.S. off the gold standard.
As a result, most of the 1933 Double Eagles were melted down, and only a few survived, making them exceedingly rare and valuable.
In the years following the melt, it was believed that no examples had been saved from destruction, but in 1944, one such coin surfaced in a London-based coin dealer’s possession.
This discovery ignited a legal battle, as the coin had never been officially released for circulation, and its ownership was questioned.
The U.S. government sought to reclaim it, arguing it was stolen property, while the dealer fought to keep it.
In a landmark 1996 decision, the coin was sold at auction for over $7 million, and it became a symbol of both the potential value and the complex history of U.S. currency.
Despite the government’s attempts to recover all 1933 Double Eagles, some coins remain privately held, and their status as legal tender remains disputed.