The design of the double eagle was modified to include the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on the reverse in 1866, initiating the popular Type Two design. The San Francisco Mint struck both Type One and Type Two twenties that year, but all double eagles produced at the Philadelphia Mint were of the new Motto design.
While the business-strike mintage was 698,745 pieces, few high-quality examples were saved by contemporary collectors. Only the wealthiest 19th century collectors could afford to set aside lengthy date runs of twenty-dollar gold coins, and the well-heeled numismatists who did collect double eagles preferred to update their collections by purchasing proof examples from the Mint every year. The coins were seldom seen in circulation, as they could only be purchased from banks and bullion brokers at a premium and the general public had become accustomed to the more convenient paper money during the Civil War years. Much of the 1866 mintage was exported and melted. Some more coins were sent to the Western United States where they circulated heavily in the hard-money economy of that region. By the time numismatic interest in the denomination became widespread in the late 1930s the coins had been circulating for decades, suffering much wear and attrition along the way. The 1866 Liberty double eagle is not difficult to locate in circulated grades today, but Mint State examples are decidedly elusive. Most Uncirculated examples are concentrated in the MS60-MS61 grade range and finer coins are rare. The one offered here is highly lustrous, with attractive color and excellent eye appeal. The PCGS population is only 11 with 2 graded higher.
Listed at $39,600 in the CDN CPG and $35,000 in the PCGS price guide.
Offered at $36,650
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