1914-D Saint Gaudens Double Eagle (1914-D $20 St. Gaudens) NGC MS64 CAC.  Glimmering mint luster and attractive surfaces characterize this mint state 1914-D Double Eagle. Its grade of MS64 is confirmed by CAC. A few tiny marks on the surfaces keep it from a gem grade. The strike is full on both sides with every detail observable and clear.

During the Great Recall of 1933-34, there was extensive melting of double eagles. Americans were mandated to turn in their hoards of gold with an exemption of $100 in gold coin per person. Collectors of rare and unusual coins were also allowed to keep their collections, probably because certain government officials had collections of pattern coins. Not only did the act prohibit the hoarding of gold, it prohibited the increasingly extensive speculative activity abroad in foreign exchange [that] has resulted in severe drains on the Nations stocks of gold.

As a result, President Franklin Roosevelt declared a national emergency and bank holiday, which he felt would be in the national interest. After confiscation of the coins, there was melting. The coins were made into gold bricks that were deposited in Fort Knox. In the period from 1933 to 1939, 66,383,444 double eagles were melted. Ironically many of these coins were the very double eagles that his cousin Theodore had such an important hand in creating.