1871 Double Eagle - 1871 $20 NGC AU55. Type 2 Double Eagle. Glimmers of original mint luster remain in protected areas of this scarce, Choice About Uncirculated, Type 2 1871 Double Eagle. The coin is well struck with full details on the centers of the stars and the design details of the reverse, especially the eagle. Sufficient separation exists in the strands of Libertys hair below the front of the coronet and above the ear to confirm the grade. The surfaces are original and clean with minimal abrasion marks, none so distracting that it requires individual description.

James B. Longacre designed the double eagle. The 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. In 1866 the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the original double eagle by enlarging the oval of stars above the eagles head and placing the motto in it.

Both before and during the Civil War almost a dozen Protestant denominations pressured Congress to add references to God to the Constitution and other government documents. Reverend Mark Richards Watkinson was the first to write to Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase to request that Gods name be added to our coinage. His suggestion for a motto was God, Liberty, Law. Chase ordered Mint Director James Pollock to prepare a suitable motto. Pollocks suggestions included Our Trust Is In God, Our God And Our Country, and God Our Trust. Then Chase decided on In God We Trust to be added to most of the nations coinage. This motto was a subtle reminder that the North considered itself on the side of God with regard to the issue of slavery. A new law was required to allow the motto to be added since previous acts of Congress specified the mottos and devices that were permitted on coins. The new motto was placed on all coins that were deemed large enough to accommodate it.

Longacres double eagle design was a new concept that endured well past the turn of the century. When Longacre first came to work at the Mint, he was opposed by Franklin Peale, the Chief Coiner. Peale was probably responsible for some blundered dies that Longacre was criticized for making. Peal was involved in a private, illegal medal manufacturing business using Mint facilities. He was concerned that this new political appointee would interfere with his business, and he resisted Longacres appointment as Chief Engraver. In the end Peale was found out and fired in 1854. Longacre flourished in his position and was responsible for creating many new designs including the Indian Head cent, the two-cent piece, the Shield nickel, the Liberty Head gold dollar, the Indian Princess gold dollar, the three-dollar gold piece, and the Liberty Head double eagle.

With the lowest mintage of any Philadelphia Type 2 double eagle, the 1871 issue is scarce in all grades. In their Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins, Garrett and Guth say of this coin, the average survivor[s] rating [is] Very Fine or Extremely Fine. Most are heavily abraded or harshly cleaned. The Smithsonian contains an example, but the coin is only Extremely Fine with slight damage. Here is an opportunity to acquire a piece that is finer than the one in the National Numismatic Collection.