FREE: 1933 Double Eagle Replica

The listing, 1933 Double Eagle Replica has ended.

Up for auction I have a 1933 Double Eagle Replica. This is not legal tender and is not real, it is a copy of the original coin, however it is gold plated. This coin does not really hold any value but it is a cool coin to collect due to its history.

History of the 1933 Double Eagle

The 1933 double eagle (United States 20-dollar gold coin) is a coin which currently holds the record for the highest price paid at auction for a single U.S. coin. It was purchased for US$7.59 million. 445,500 specimens of this Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle were minted in 1933, the last year of production for the Double Eagle, but no specimens ever officially circulated and nearly all were melted down, due to the discontinuance of the domestic gold standard in 1933.

In 1933 and the Gold Reserve Act in 1934, which outlawed the circulation and private possession of United States gold coins for general circulation, with an exemption for collector coins. This act declared that gold coins were no longer legal tender in the United States, and people had to turn in their gold coins for other forms of currency. The 1933 gold Double Eagles were struck after this executive order, but because they were no longer legal tender, most of the 1933 gold coins were melted down in late 1934 and some were destroyed in tests. Two of the $20 Double Eagles were presented by the United States Mint to the U.S. National Numismatic Collection, and they were recently on display in the "Money and Medals Hall" on the third floor of the National Museum of American History.

These two coins should have been the only 1933 Double Eagle coins in existence. However, unknown to the Mint, a number of the coins (20 have been recovered so far) were stolen, possibly by the U.S. Mint Cashier, and found their way via Philadelphia jeweler Israel Switt, into the hands of collectors. The coins circulated among collectors for several years before the Secret Service became aware of their existence.