1904 Double Eagle - 1904 $20 NGC MS62 PL CAC. Type 3 Double Eagle. This Mint State, prooflike 1904 Double Eagle comes with a strong strike. A prooflike coin, from this era, is the result of an earlier strike in the production run. The devices are satiny and set against mirrored fields. The surfaces are original and clean for the grade, which is confirmed by the CAC sticker. Its presence indicates that the coin is of premium quality and well within the grade range. The strike shows full details on the centers of the stars, Libertys hair over the ear, and the design elements of the reverse. The vertical marks that are prominent on the obverse and also present on the reverse are on the holder not the coin.

James B. Longacre designed the double eagle. It 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 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.

The design change that brought about the Type 3 double eagle was the denomination. It went from TWENTY D. to TWENTY DOLLARS.  Like the addition of the motto to the reverse of the previous double eagle, it did not cause any major change in the rest of the coins design. William Barber who by then was the Engraver following Longacres death in 1869 made the modification.

In its population report, as of July 2012, CAC shows 6 1904 double eagles confirmed in MS62 PL with 10 better.