The 1933 Double Eagle

The 1933 double eagle (United States 20-dollarand some were destroyed in tests. Two of the
gold coin) currently holds the record for highest$20 double eagle were presented by the United
price paid at auction for a single U.S. coin when itStates Mint to the U.S. National Numismatic
was purchased for US$7.59 million. 445,500Collection, and they were recently on display in
specimens of this Saint-Gaudens Double Eaglethe "Money and Medals Hall" on the third floor of
were minted in 1933, the last year of productionthe National Museum of American History.
for the Double Eagle, but no specimens everThese two coins should have been the only 1933
officially circulated and nearly all were meltedDouble Eagle coins in existence. However,
down, due to the discontinuance of the domesticunbeknownst to the Mint, a number of the coins
gold standard in 1933.(20 have been recovered so far) were stolen,
Production of the 1933 double eaglepossibly by the U.S. Mint Cashier, George McCann.
In order to end the 1930s general bank crisis, U.S.At least nine of these coins, which were illegal to
president Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executivepossess, found their way via Philadelphia jeweler
Order 6102 in 1933 and the Gold Reserve Act inIsrael Switt, into the hands of collectors.
1934, which outlawed the circulation and privateThe coins circulated amongst collectors for
possession of United States gold coins for generalseveral years before the Secret Service became
circulation, with an exemption for collector coins.aware of their existence. The matter came to
This act declared that gold coins were no longerthe attention of Mint officials when an
legal tender in the United States, and people hadinvestigative reporter looked into the history of
to turn in their gold coins for other forms ofthe coins and contacted the Mint as part of his
currency. The 1933 gold Double Eagles wereresearch, as a result of which an official
struck after this executive order, but becauseinvestigation was begun by the Secret Service in
they were no longer legal tender, most of the1944.
1933 gold coins were melted down in late 1934