1898 Liberty Head $20 1850-1907 MS63

History

California gold discoveries prompted the Treasury to authorize a denomination worth twice the eagle, and the double eagle entered production in 1850. James B. Longacre's Liberty Head design carried the series through 1907. Collectors divide it into three sub-types: the 1850-1866 coins reading TWENTY D., the 1866-1876 coins that added the motto IN GOD WE TRUST, and the 1877-1907 issues with the denomination spelled out as TWENTY DOLLARS. The 1898-S belongs to that last group.

Details

Longacre designed both faces, and the coin was struck in an alloy of 90 percent gold and 10 percent copper. The standard specifications call for a weight of 33.40 grams, a diameter of 34.00 millimeters and a reeded edge. San Francisco produced 2,575,175 pieces in 1898, a figure that places the issue among the highest-mintage dates of the series.

Features

The obverse shows the coronet head of Liberty facing left, the coronet inscribed LIBERTY, with thirteen stars around the portrait and the date below. On the reverse a heraldic eagle holds arrows and an olive branch behind a shield, with a scroll reading E PLURIBUS UNUM, rays and a ring of stars above, and the legends UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN GOD WE TRUST and TWENTY DOLLARS. The S mint mark sits below the eagle's tail. PCGS recognizes a separate prooflike designation for the date, which creates a distinct pricing tier above ordinary business strikes.

Notable facts

• David Akers called the 1898-S the second most common S-mint double eagle after the 1904-S and one of the eight or ten commonest issues in the whole Liberty Head series.
• Philadelphia struck only 170,395 double eagles in 1898, roughly one fifteenth of the San Francisco output.
• PCGS catalogs the regular strike as number 9034 and the prooflike variant as 89034.
• The acknowledged rarities of the series lie elsewhere, among such issues as the 1854-O, 1856-O, 1861-S Paquet reverse, 1870-CC and 1879-O.
• The 1883 and 1884 double eagles were made only as proofs, to the extent of 92 and 71 pieces respectively.
• Gem examples of the 1898-S are scarce relative to the mintage, though they appear on the market with some regularity.