584

Lot 0584 1924-D $20 St. Gaudens PCGS MS64

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:50.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 150,000.00 USD
Lot 0584 1924-D $20 St. Gaudens PCGS MS64
This is a lovely, healthy-glowing specimen of a rare date whose obverse and reverse being essentially untoned, beam with frosty, golden to reddish gold luster. Fully struck in all areas with pinpoint detailing on the drapery folds of Liberty's dress as well as throughout the feathers in the eagle.

The 1924-D is the first of the rarely seen mintmarked issues that continue through the end of the Saint-Gaudens double eagle series in 1933. The majority of Mint state survivors in today's market originated in European hoards of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Bowers, in describing the 1924-D in his book on double eagles, has this to say, "Most were probably retained in the United States and melted in the mid-1930s. However, at least a couple thousand were exported. Today, the 1924-D is quite scarce. However, offerings are frequent, due to a combination of more pieces being available and the curious situation, prevalent throughout numismatics, of buyers taking home a piece from an auction, then putting it back on the market soon thereafter. Sometimes a rare double eagle will do quite a bit of traveling around until it finds a lasting home." Of course, when Bowers describes the offerings as "frequent" he fails to mention that the frequency is for MS60 to MS63 level coins, with higher grades much more difficult to obtain.