Some rare gold $20 double eagles are set to be top lots at Heritage’s Aug. 14 American Numismatic Association Platinum Night auction, held the week after the World’s Fair of Money with lot viewing at the convention.

Proof Coronet double eagles have been especially popular with well-off collectors in the last few years, and the sale offers a tantalizing duo. An 1883 double eagle graded Proof 65 Deep Cameo by Professional Coin Grading Service carries a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker recognizing quality within the grade and is among the finest of 92 examples struck. John Dannreuther estimates 28 to 32 coins survive from that mintage, which is the first of three Proof-only dates for this denomination in the 1880s, the others being the 1884 and 1887 Proof issues.

Dannreuther also notes that the production quality for this year is uniformly high, and Heritage writes, “This spectacular Gem proof exhibits razor-sharp definition on all design elements and the impeccably preserved canary-gold surfaces include deeply mirrored fields that contrast profoundly with the richly frosted devices.” A similarly-graded example offered without a CAC sticker sold for $336,000 at Heritage’s January 2021 Florida United Numismatists auction.

The 1887 Coronet gold $20 double eagle is another Proof-only issue, with a rather hearty mintage, for the era, of 121 pieces of which Dannreuther estimates that as many as 40 survive today.

The offered example, graded Proof 65 Deep Cameo by PCGS with a green CAC sticker, realized $420,000 when presented at Stack’s Bowers August 2022 sale of the Mocatta Collection.

Dannreuther explains that the mintage was struck from a single die pair, observing, “With so many coins struck from a single die pair, we should see many coins with diminished frost on the devices, and there are examples without deep cameo contrast.” Not so on the subject coin, however, which has richly frosted devices that stand out against deeply mirrored fields.

1930s melt-rarity gold coins

The final decade of issues within the Saint-Gaudens gold $20 double eagle series are often characterized by moderate mintages and extremely low survival rates, as many were melted. Among the “melt-rarity” issues at Heritage’s Platinum Night session is a handsome PCGS-graded Mint State 66 1931-D $20 coin, one of the finer survivors from a mintage of 106,500 pieces. Heritage estimates that 125 or so exist today, nearly all in Uncirculated grades, as the majority were melted after President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s great Gold Recall of 1933. It’s considered the second rarest example of the issue struck at the Denver Mint, after the 1927-D pieces. Heritage calls the luster of this example spectacular, noting, “Only two small marks can be used as pedigree identifiers: One is located on the obverse across ray 7 in the left field; the other is a short, diagonal mark on the top of the sun.” It most recently sold at Heritage’s Jan. 8, 2018, FUN Platinum Night session for $156,000 and had previously sold at its January 2010 FUN sale, realizing $172,500.

The 1932 Saint-Gaudens $20 coin is the final collectible date in the series, with a sole 1933 double eagle available for private ownership. Roger Burdette’s archival research indicates that just 113 1932 double eagles were paid out by the Treasury department, though a few might have been released through other channels, and today Burdette estimates that fewer than 100 survive from an original mintage of 1.1 million coins.

This one, graded MS-64+ by PCGS, last sold at Heritage’s Aug. 6, 2017, Platinum Night session for $88,125, and in both offerings Heritage’s catalogers praise its tremendous luster. It is one of three graded MS-64+ with 42 finer at PCGS, a number that is likely inflated by resubmissions of the same coins, as PCGS and Numismatic Guaranty Co. record 148 submissions in their population records.

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