LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Sept. Long Beach Signature Coin Auction  / 

4131

1927-S $20 MS64 PCGS

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:50,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1927-S $20 MS64 PCGS
<B>1927-S $20 MS64 PCGS.</B></I> The Great Recall of 1933-1934, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the United States off of the gold standard, resulted in massive meltings of Saint-Gaudens double eagles. Some of the most beautiful coins ever minted were systematically converted from works of art into mundane gold bars, many of which are still stored in government vaults at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The later dates in the series were most affected by the meltings, as many were still in government possession at the time of the recall. As such, numerous recorded mintage figures of gold coins struck during the 1920s and 1930s are completely useless when trying to ascertain the rarity of a particular issue. Ironically, it was Franklin Roosevelt's fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, who commissioned Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create new designs for our country's circulating gold coinage. <BR> Breen suggested that only 15 examples of the 1927-S twenty were in existence when he published his landmark <I>Complete Encyclopedia</B></I> in 1988. That number seems ridiculously low based on our knowledge of this issue today. However, it may not have been too far off when Breen was researching Saint-Gaudens double eagles for inclusion in his seminal reference. Apparently more examples have been repatriated from European holdings since then. Yet even today the survival rate for this date is very low. In <I>The Coinage of August Saint-Gaudens</B></I> (Ivy Press, 2006) the authors comment of this rare issue: "The key status of the 1927-S is based on absolute rarity rather than conditional rarity. In all grades, there are probably only 160-170 pieces extant today, but curiously, two-thirds of the pieces known are Uncirculated." As with all '27-S Saints we have handled, the mint luster is thick and frosted. The bright surfaces have a noticeable overlay of reddish patina that deepens even more around the margins. Fully struck. There are a few scattered marks on each side, none of individual note, that keep this coin from an MS65 grade. Population: 5 in 64, 8 finer (8/07).<BR><BR><BR><B>Coin Engraver:</B> Augustus Saint-Gaudens<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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