1850 $20 (1850 Double Eagle) NGC AU50. This Type 1 1850 Double Eagle has a bold strike and subdued mint luster in protected areas of both sides. On the obverse the centers of the stars are fully detailed as are the reverse design elements. Slight wear is seen on the coins high points, and the crusty, original surfaces are clean for the grade, with no individual marks worthy of mention.

The 1850 double eagle was the first year of the regular issue for the design type. It was also the first year of the double eagle. James B. Longacre designed the pattern the prior year. The double eagle was produced because of the huge amount of gold that came into the Mint from California. With the discovery of gold at Sutters Mill in January 1848, the California gold rush began. It led to an influx of miners and others into the area. The vast quantity of gold produced led to a need for a standard form of exchange. The double eagle was the governments response. They also felt that it would be useful for large commercial transactions and that it would facilitate foreign trade.

Longacres design for the coin shows a Liberty head facing left wearing coronet inscribed LIBERTY. Her hair is tightly tied in the back with two loose curls hanging down her neck to the end of the truncation. She is surrounded by thirteen six pointed stars with the date below. Dentils are near the edge on both sides of the coin. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with elaborate ribbons on both sides of the shield extending from the top corner down to the eagles tail feathers. The ribbons are inscribed, on the left E PLURIBUS and UNUM on the right. The ribbons were added to the design to symbolize the denomination since this was the first double eagle coin. There is an oval of thirteen stars above the eagles head and an arc of rays from wing tip to wing tip behind the upper half of the oval. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is in an arc above the eagle, and the denomination TWENTY D. is below.