Liberty Head Double Eagle Type III (1877 - 1907)

From 1850, when the first regular issue double eagle was struck, to 1933, when the denomination was suspended by the emergency decree of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, more than 174 million pieces were minted.

The Liberty double eagle design is credited to James B. Longacre but has its roots in Christian Gobrecht’s $10 Eagle of 1839. The obverse features a Greco-Roman head of Liberty facing left, with hair tied in a bun and curls flowing down to the base of the bust. She is wearing a coronet inscribed with LIBERTY. Thirteen stars surround the bust with the date positioned below.

The reverse depicts an eagle with outstretched wings holding an olive branch and arrows. A shield with straight sides (Type 1) gave way to a rounded ornate shield in 1866 when the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the oval of stars above the eagle (Type 2). There is a pattern of rays in a semicircle touching each wing. In 1877, Chief Engraver William Barber tilted Liberty’s head forward and replaced the denomination TWENTY D. with TWENTY DOLLARS (Type 3).

The Type 3 Liberty double eagle was by far the largest mintage of the three types with 64,137,477 business strikes

Millions of Type 3 Liberty double eagles were shipped overseas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to be used as bank reserves. In recent years, average circulated, common date Liberty double eagles have been used as a hedge against inflation and as an alternative bullion coin to the Krugerrand, Maple Leaf and American Eagle.

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