1903-S Liberty Head Double Eagle : A Collector’s Guide

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
 

The San Francisco Mint struck cash in seven denominations in 1903, the 1903-S Liberty Head Double Eagle and the 1903-S Morgan Greenback being the scarcest of them in right now’s market, the Morgan having roughly the identical worth because the Double Eagle in grades About Uncirculated and finer.

The 1903-S Liberty Head Double Eagle had a mintage of 954,000 items, the bottom output for the San Francisco Mint since 1892. Nonetheless, this mintage appears to be like strong in comparison with the Philadelphia Mint’s output from 1901-’03 and 1905-’06.

The overwhelming majority of the yr’s mintage was both held by the Treasury Division or returned to it after the gold recall of 1933 and subsequently melted down into “soiled” gold ingots. The explanation why the 1903-S is available for collectors is that some 10,000 to fifteen,000 Mint State examples have been repatriated to the United States after World Struggle II.

In his 1982 ebook United States Gold Cash: An Evaluation of Public sale Data, Quantity IV: Double Eagles, 1849-1933, numismatist David W. Akers counted 151 public sale appearances for the coin between 1946 and 1981. With the repatriations and the good thing about third-party grading, we will higher perceive the true dimension of the surviving inhabitants. Each NGC and PCGS report greater than 6,000 grading occasions every for the 1903-S Double Eagle, with the most typical grade being MS62. Licensed populations skew closely in favor of uncirculated cash attributable to the price of submission; however, we surmise {that a} important variety of AU cash exist and should not represented within the knowledge.

Given the softness of gold, the dimensions of the coin, and the way by which they survived, the 1903-S Liberty Head Double Eagle is a situation rarity in grades MS65 and above. NGC experiences two cash at MS66, whereas PCGS has but to grade a single specimen over MS65.

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1903-S Liberty Head Double Eagle Market Knowledge and Noteworthy Specimens

In 2010, artwork seller Forrest Fenn printed a group of quick tales titled The Thrill of the Chase: A Memoir. The ebook included a sequence of clues a few hidden treasure trove of gold nuggets, uncommon cash, jewellery, and gem stones that he buried someplace within the Rockies north of his artwork gallery in Santa Fe.

The seek for Fenn’s Treasure took 10 years, and a minimum of 5 seekers misplaced their lives within the Rocky Mountain wilderness. In 2020, the riddle was solved when Jack Stuef, a med scholar from Michigan, notified Fenn that he had found the cache inside a 22-pound bronze chest, hidden in a secluded spot in Wyoming.

Stuef consigned the treasure to Heritage Auctions, which sent more than 250 coins and 150 lots of gold nuggets, flakes, and dust to NGC for certification. Among the many cash contained in the 22-pound bronze chest have been 5 1903-S Liberty Head Double Eagles. Two of the 5 (NGC MS62 #6323750-002 and MS61 #6323749-019) have been licensed in Mint State.

The NGC MS65 inhabitants has risen from 22 to 27 since 2009. The PCGS MS65 inhabitants has risen from six in 2006 to 23 as of October 26, 2024.

High Inhabitants: PCGS MS65 (23, 10/2024), NGC MS66 (2, 10/2024), and CAC MS65 (0:1 stickered:graded 10/24).

• NGC MS65+ #2122244-001: Stack’s Bowers, April 5, 2022, Lot 3184 – $18,000. Flashy luster. Strike softness at high of LIBERTY. Planchet void on neck. Skinny diagonal contact marks to the higher proper of the date. Diagonal lower between stars 7 and eight. On the reverse, skinny diagonal contact mark on the horizontal traces of the defend.
• PCGS MS65 #49209567: Marketed by DLRC in October 2024 for $16,500. Small cluster of diagonal hits to the left of nostril. Tiny tick behind mouth. On the reverse, there are copper spots: one under left wing, one other on ribbon, and two amongst letters of DOLLARS.
• PCGS MS65 #37557690: Heritage Auctions, August 3, 2020, Lot 3620 – $10,800; Legend Uncommon Coin Auctions, December 16, 2021, Lot 376 – $21,150; “The Oak Creek Assortment of Liberty Gold Double Eagles,” GreatCollections, June 16, 2024, Lot 1569654 – View.
• NGC MS65 #3698120-026: “The Eureka Gold Assortment”; “The ‘So Cal’ Assortment,” Heritage Auctions, January 10, 2020, Lot 5717 – $8,100. EUREKA GOLD COLLECTION on insert. Mild copper recognizing between stars 2 and three. Die crack from date to star 12. Varied gentle contact marks on obverse and reverse fields.
• PCGS MS65: Stack’s Bowers, March 13, 2013, Lot 2193 – $12,925.
• NGC MS65 #317929-008: Heritage Auctions, August 1, 2009, Lot 2747 – $10,350. Dappled with orange copper spots on the obverse: above eye, three to the fitting of the bust truncation. Darkish streaks throughout hair. Darker spots on the defend.
• NGC MS65: Stack’s, August 13, 2007, Lot 7091 – $16,675.
• PCGS MS65 #21091134: Heritage Auctions, June 10, 2002, Lot 1834 – $8,050; “The Kutasi Assortment,” Heritage Auctions, January 4, 2007, Lot 3248 – $12,650.
• PCGS MS65 #4276665: Heritage Auctions, September 5, 2006, Lot 13908 – $10,930. Previous Inexperienced Holder.
• NGC MS65 $266191-005: Heritage Auctions, March 26, 2004, Lot 6503 – $7,475.
• NGC MS65 #274136-001: Heritage Auctions, January 7, 2004, Lot 3213 – $7,475. Small streak or spot between date and star 13. On the reverse, there’s a diagonal lower throughout eagle’s neck. Tick under R of AMERICA. Diagonal hit throughout the horizontal traces of the defend.
• NGC MS65 #587197-043: “The Eagle Assortment of $20 Liberties,” Heritage Auctions, January 11, 2002, Lot 4136 – $7,187.50. EAGLE COLLECTION on insert. High pop, pop one when supplied. Deep hit under star 9.

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Design

Obverse:

Because the one-time largest circulating denomination in the US, the double eagle makes fairly the creative assertion. The obverse incorporates a stoic left-facing profile portrait of Woman Liberty sporting a coronet inscribed with the phrase LIBERTY. Her hair is held up in a knot, with curling locks falling down the again of her neck. Encircling the bust are 13 six-pointed stars representing the 13 unique colonies. The date 1903 seems under the truncation.

Reverse:

A heraldic eagle is within the middle. A semi-circle of sunbeams extends from wingtip to wingtip, encompassing a circle of 13 six-pointed stars and the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. The eagle’s defend is bracketed by two massive scrolls, one on both sides that collectively include the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. Ringing the principle design are the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the denomination TWENTY DOLLARS. The S mintmark of the San Francisco Mint seems above the hole between TWENTY and DOLLARS.

Edge:

The sting of the 1885 Liberty Head Double Eagle is reeded.

Designer

James Barton Longacre (1794-1869) was one of the crucial well-known U.S. engravers and medallic artists of the nineteenth century. Longacre was appointed the fourth Chief Engraver of the US Mint by President John Tyler after Christian Gobrecht died in 1844. Earlier than his appointment, Longacre labored for the Philadelphia engraving firm Murray, Draper, Fairman & Co. till he started working for himself in 1819. As an impartial engraver, Longacre produced a sequence of well-known plates that featured the Founding Fathers, President Andrew Jackson, and Senator John C. Calhoun. As soon as he grew to become Chief Engraver on the Mint, he produced such well-known items because the Flying Eagle Cent, the Indian Head Cent, and the Protect Nickel.

Coin Specs

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