LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 Jan. FUN Signature Coin Auction #454  / 

3397

1927-S $20 MS66 NGC

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:95,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1927-S $20 MS66 NGC
<B>1927-S $20 MS66 NGC.</B></I> In 1927, the Roaring Twenties were in full steam, and signs of commercial progress flourished. The trans-Atlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh inspired millions on both sides of that ocean; just a few months earlier, the first trans-Atlantic telephone call took place between New York and London. Under famously business-friendly President Calvin Coolidge, whose Cabinet included then-Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover, the American economy not only rebounded from the post-war recession of the Harding Administration, it soared to dizzying heights; the economies of European nations rose alongside that of the United States, and the "Golden Twenties," as some called them, saw flourishing markets and renewed financial strength emerge from the ruins of the Great War. By 1927, the flow of gold from the United States to the vaults of Switzerland and other nations was emblematic of the developed world's economic interdependency. These gold coins, though, were largely from Philadelphia, since that Mint was closest to the Eastern seaboard and thus most convenient for trans-Atlantic traders. By contrast, the branch mint issues from Denver and San Francisco rarely entered the commercial mainstream.<BR> Like many other issues in the Saint-Gaudens series from the 1920s and 1930s, the 1927-S had a substantial mintage. In this case, 3.1 million pieces were produced at the San Francisco Mint for the year; this figure is slightly greater than that of the 1927 P-mint issue, now one of the most popular type coins for the series. However, almost the entire mintage was melted in the 1930s. In the 1940s the 1927-S was considered the fourth scarcest issue in the series and was thought to be even more elusive than the 1927-D. In the 1950s that perception began to change, however, as one or two pieces at a time began to show up in European gold holdings. But, like the 1926-D, it never appeared in any quantity. Very few examples are known today in all grades, and it is always a focal point of any auction. In his 1988 book, <I>A Handbook of 20th Century United States Gold Coins,</B></I> David Akers ranked the 1927-S as tenth of the 54 issues in the series in overall rarity, and 14th in the series in MS64 or better grades. While Garrett and Guth (2006) fail to assign a specific rank to the 1927-S, they emphasize the challenge it poses, particularly in better grades; in reviewing survivors, they note that " ... most are in lower Mint State grades or show minor evidence of brief circulation."<BR> This is a superlative example, and even a casual glance shows that this coin is decidedly better than MS65. The surfaces display bright satiny mint luster and are well struck throughout. Close examination with a magnifier shows a couple of shallow marks on each side, but one would be hard pressed to find any that could be used as pedigree identifiers. The coin has a lovely orange-gold coloration with a faint trace of lilac interspersed. This piece was struck from an intermediate die state; there is just the slightest evidence of die bulging evident below the lettering in LIBERTY on the obverse, and a die crack runs through the eagle's beak on the reverse.<BR> Only a small handful of 1927-S twenties are known today better than MS65. The combined certified population shows just six examples in MS66, four at NGC and two at PCGS, with only three coins finer, two in NGC holders and one PCGS-certified (11/07). Though Heritage auctions have presented several opportunities to acquire a Premium Gem representative of this elusive issue over the past several years, this is due to the unlikely confluence of multiple important gold collections in that timeframe, the Morse and Kutasi collections among them, and the rate at which examples have been offered has ebbed. It is entirely possible that years could pass before the opportunity to purchase a 1927-S double eagle of this caliber comes again.<BR><I>From The Jacob Collection of Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles.</B></I><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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