American Coin Treasures 1849 P Liberty Gold Piece $20 American Mint State

It is an indescribable experience to handle the huge $20 Double Eagle Tribute! In today's world of clad circulating coinage and plastic credit cards it's difficult to imagine the original splendid heavy pieces were once actually used as money. America's largest circulating gold coin the Double Eagle was born during the rousing years of the Great California Gold Rush. The enormous masses of gold hauled out of the hills by the 49'ers helped fuel the growth of the American West and dramatically changed the nation's gold coinage. The first shipment of California gold to the Philadelphia Mint weighed just over 230 ounces and most of this was coined into small denomination Quarter Eagles. Record amounts of gold rolled steadily into the Mint and it was logical to convert as much of it as possible into coins preferably without having to increase the Mint's existing facilities. One obvious solution was to create a much larger denomination than the currently authorized Quarter Half and Eag