Collectors love taking a close look at their coins. Bill Fivaz’s and J.T. Stanton’s book Cherrypickers’ Guide To Rare Die Varieties of United States Coins has helped a generation of collectors find varieties. A listing in the book can boost a variety’s popularity and legitimizes it beyond the realm of series specialists, introducing a variety to a broader collector base.

Heritage’s Sept. 18 to 20 U.S. Coins Signature Auction in Dallas offered some wonderful, once overlooked 20th century varieties. Frequent Coin World Guest Commentary author Ross Johnson is a big fan of varieties on U.S. gold coins, including the 1911-D/D Saint-Gaudens $20 double eagle. One of these, graded Mint State 65+ by Professional Coin Grading Service and bearing a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker, sold for $15,600 on Sept. 18.

The coin is a repunched Mint mark variety, with the initial Mint mark punched slightly further east than the secondary Mint mark. Both D’s are clearly visible on this variety, which is listed as FS-501 in the Cherrypickers’ Guide.

The price was exceedingly strong considering that it sold in the same PCGS slab with the CAC sticker for $2,640 at a Heritage auction last year.

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