Posted 13 years ago
bahamaboy
(224 items)
Compare pic two here with the reverse of the other post of Saint Gaudens double eagles and you will see that there is no motto "In God We Trust". It was added to the bottom of the reverse just below the eagle following the shape of the sun below the "rays". Christians were up in arms with the new U.S. coinage of 1907 & 1908 and demanded that the motto be put back on all U.S. coins. This is the 1908 "No Motto" version. Again the composition is 90% gold & 10% copper with very close to a full ounce of gold in each $20 coin.
I havent been on CW long, but have learned more history than i did the 18 years i spent going to school.
Is this coin real rare? Is collectibility of this coin more than the gold value?
It's not so much that it's rare. The term rare and common are just relative terms. There were over 4 million minted for this date. Of which they're may be 5-10 thousand left in various grades. A coin being old or even made of gold does not make it rare. Like the term "location" repeated when talking real estate, "total that exist today" is the term for rare/scarce coins. The gold bullion value for this coin is approx $1400 as of today. Being the fact that it is a mint state 62 makes it worth between $1800 & $2250 depending on the venue of sale. This same coin three points up the grade scale to MS-65 would put the value at 4-6 grand. So it boils down to mainly "condition" primarily and then "total population known". This is a 1st year of issue and back in the day, much like today, when a new issue came out, it's was usually "heavily saved/put back". So to answer your question in 1000 words or less, over 4 million minted, maybe only 4000 remain?? It's scarce but I would not call it rare. I have other coins that I, along with only 32 others in the world, own an example of the highest graded to date. Now you're talking rare.