1864 $20 (1864 Double Eagle) PCGS AU55. Civil War Double Eagle. This attractive, Civil War dated 1864 Double Eagle has a full, sharp strike that allows one to appreciate Longacres Type 1 design. The motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is especially bold. Bright mint luster is found within the devices.

James Barton Longacre designed the pattern for the double eagle in 1849. It 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. It was the governments response. They also felt that the denomination would be useful for large commercial transactions and that it would facilitate foreign trade.

Longacres design 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 twenty dollar 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. The mint mark is between the tail feathers and the N of TWENTY.

With a mintage of 204,235 one might think that attractive coins are easily available. However, perhaps because of the Civil War, they were not saved in quantity. Some researchers feel that Philadelphia issues made during the war are much rarer than their mintages might indicate. They surmise that most of the coins were exported or melted. In its population report, PCGS shows 27 1864 double eagles in AU55 condition with only 43 better.