1854 Small Date $20.00 NGC MS60

Small Date variety. In most instances, a Type One double eagle graded MS60 is a wreck. These coins tend to be either very dull or excessively abraded. The present example is neither and, to the naked eye, it looks more like an MS62. This coin is bright and lustrous with lovely natural light green-gold color that changes slightly to reddish-gold as it is tilted towards a light source. What is most remarkable about this coin, though, is its immaculate nearly mark-free surfaces; certainly not what you expect to see on this date and certainly not in a 60 holder. The 1854 Small Date is extremely scarce in full Uncirculated and I typically don't see more than two or three per year (and almost all of these are in the MS60 to MS61 range). The last Uncirculated 1854 Small Date double eagle to sell at auction was the PCGS MS61 Goldberg 2/11: 1875 coin that brought $10,063. In my opinion, this NGC MS60 is a much more pleasing example with superior eye appeal.

1854 Large Date $20.00 NGC AU55

Large Date variety. After years of neglect, the 1854 Large Date has been acknowledged as one of the rarest Philadelphia Type One double eagles. It is screamingly rare in Uncirculated and nice AU55 to AU58 examples are about as high up on the ladder as most collectors can hope for. This attractive example was recently found in Europe (where you can imagine it was sold as a "common" variety) and it is one of the cleanest 1854 Large Dates that I have seen with just a few light, unobtrusive marks scattered in the fields. The color is a pleasing light to medium green-gold and this is exactly the "right" hue for the issue. This issue cracked the $10,000 mark in AU55 about five years ago and while other coins of comparable scarcity (1854-S and 1859, to name two) have exploded in value, this hasn't risen to the degree it should.

All 1854 Large Date double eagles can be identified by the presence of an obverse die clash that looks like a "spray" at the third curl from the bottom. There is also a raised die dot towards the truncation that can be seen even on well-worn examples.