1926-D $20 MS64 NGC....

Description

Impressive MS64 1926-D Double Eagle

1926-D $20 MS64 NGC. In his A Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins, Q. David Bowers offers a wonderful capsule view of this Denver double eagle issue, which has an original mintage of slightly under half a million pieces. He calls the date an "erstwhile formidable rarity," while also noting that it is still "very rare today." Then he writes more at length: "Today the 1926-D is one of the key issues of the Saint-Gaudens series, with only a few hundred known to exist. Typical grades are MS-60 to MS-63. Gems are rare. Today the 1926-D double remains very elusive, though hardly in the 'impossible' category."
The 1926-D, then, was not utterly annihilated like a handful of other issues from similarly late in the series (the most famous example being the 1927-D double eagle), but instead saw a limited release to safe-havens overseas, where they were rediscovered in the 1950s and 1960s. That rediscovery is key to the vintage but still valuable analysis of David W. Akers, who noted in 1982 (when he published the double eagle volume of United States Gold Coins) that he considered the 1926-D just outside his top ten in terms of Saint-Gaudens double eagle rarity.
This example is neither one of Q. David Bowers' "typical" coins, nor one of his (extremely) rare Gems. Instead, it is Choice, "merely" a condition rarity, but beautiful all the same. Orange overtones blossom on sun-yellow luster. The strike is decent, if a little soft on the peripheral devices, and while an abrasion is noted just above 3 o'clock on the obverse, the rest of the coin has few significant marks. A coin of considerable importance. Census: 9 in 64, 0 finer (11/10).(Registry values: N7079)

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# 26GE, PCGS# 9184, Greysheet# 10182)

Metal: 90% Gold, 10% Copper
Weight: 33.44 grams
AGW: 1.06oz
Mintage: 481,000

Note for clients in the European Union: This lot is considered by the European Union to be “investment gold”. We believe that it meets the criteria established in Article 344(1), point (2) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC and thus should be exempt from import VAT regardless of the selling price. Any questions or concerns about VAT should be addressed to your accountant or local tax authority.

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