If you collect Liberty Head double eagles, you are well-aware of the complexities which make this series such a joy to collect. The 44 issues which make up the Type One series are particularly difficult to collect for a variety of reasons including—but not limited to—the following:

High acquisition price due to high-grade rarity.
Shipwrecks and hoards which impact rarity
Price swings which are related to spot gold prices increasing
Relative rarity of virtually every issue in Uncirculated
Peculiarities of strike and appearance which makes buying a challenge for the under-informed
The very rare 1854-O and 1856-O which represent a combined $1,000,000 commitment

Needless to say, you need a good reference and you need a good specialized dealer if you are beginning a Type One $20 set. You need doubleaglebook.com as your go-to reference, and Douglas Winter Numismatics as your go-to dealer.

Doubleeaglebook.com is the leading online specialized numismatic reference. It covers every aspect of Type One double eagles produced from 1850 through 1866 at the Philadelphia, New Orleans, and San Francisco mints.

*as you scroll down the homepage you can click to see the coins or to learn more about building a collection*

Each individual Type One issue is covered in detail and includes information which you will find nowhere else. This includes highly researched detail on topics such as expected quality of strike and surface quality/texture, luster and natural coloration, and eye appeal (to help you determine if your coin is nice or not so nice). A roster of every currently known major variety is listed as are mintage figures for Proofs and business strikes. Also included are record prices at auction and a list of specific finest known and high-grade examples of which I am aware.

Perhaps the most important information in this impressive book is the exact number of coins found in shipwrecks and famous hoards, as well as buying tips directly from Doug Winter, who has purchased over $100 million worth of these issues in his professional career.

You’ll learn which issues you should avoid spending too much on and which you should “stretch” for. You’ll learn which issues are almost impossible to locate with natural color and choice surfaces, and which ones have become more available as a result of recent bank vault finds.

The book contains hundreds of high-quality images of high-grade coins which will prove useful as comparisons to your own coins. They are also helpful to teach basic grading of Type One double eagles.

Let’s look at a few of the best features or this online gold coin resource:

1. Eye Appeal

*a sample page from doubleeaglebook.com - the same format as our new orleans and dahlonega books*

The single most important factor which should influence your collecting decisions is eye appeal. Doubleaglebook.com goes into great detail about what constitutes above-average eye appeal of each Type One issue.

As an example, the 1850 $20, according to this reference, is “…among the easier Type One issues to locate with really good eye appeal and the patient collector should be able to locate a very pleasing 1850 in a variety of grade and price ranges.”

Before you buy any Type One $20, be sure to check out what doubleeaglebook.com has to say about it. You might save yourself from making a costly mistake.

2. Buying Tips

Having spent over $100 million on Type One double eagles, I feel well-qualified to share a few tips with collectors.

Here’s an especially important tip for the 1854-S: “Learn to distinguish the difference between an example with original surfaces and one with seawater surfaces. The difference between these two types is still not widely known, and even many dealers do not realize how rare the former is.”

3. Hoards

If you are going to collect Type One Liberty Head $20s, you are going to encounter hoard coins. Some are marketed as such, while others have more mysterious backgrounds.
Doubleeaglebook.com is likely the only one-stop location where you can learn the numbers of coins found of hoards dating as far back at the 1930s, and right up to the present.

4. Performance Since 2002

I date the modern Type One market as beginning around 2002. The Bass Collection had just been sold and firms were selling 1856-S and 1857-S double eagles from the S.S. Central America to people who likely had never seen a double eagle before, let alone a Gem or a near-Gem from before the Civil War. Prices began to rise; reflecting a new level of interest.

Also, 2002 represented my first foray into writing a book on Type One double eagles, which I did in conjunction with Adam Crum.

Doubleaglebook.com compares current prices of every date of this type in two popular ranges (EF45 and AU55). Some dates have clearly outperformed others, and this reference will help you to determine which issues seem to be better values.