When to Buy 20 Dollar Gold Coins

When it comes to buying gold coins, no issue stands out like the U.S. $20 gold piece.

From 1850 to 1933, the United States Mint produced $20 gold coins for use as money in America. These $20 gold pieces were known as “Double Eagles.” The name “Double Eagle” was the outgrowth of the name “Eagle,” which had been assigned to the basic $10 gold coin when U.S. gold coinage was started in 1795.

Since the $10 gold piece was known as the “Eagle, “ the $5 gold piece became known as the “Half Eagle,” and the $2.50 gold piece was the “Quarter Eagle.”

The establishment of the large “Double Eagle” denomination came as a direct result of the discovery of gold in California in 1848 and the ensuing Gold Rush, which saw gold supplies skyrocket.

Liberty and Saint-Gaudens

The Double Eagle was minted in two design types. From 1850 to 1908, the Double Eagle design was the “Liberty.” It was called “Liberty” because of the prominent bust of Lady Liberty featured on the obverse side of the coin.

In 1907, the United States Mint began minting a new Double Eagle design which had been created by the famed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens at the specific request of President Theodore Roosevelt.

The Saint-Gaudens design was quite different from the longstanding Liberty design in many ways and later served as the inspiration for the U.S. Mint’s American Eagle gold bullion coin program, which was rolled out in 1986.

The Mint produced the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle from 1907 to 1933, when U.S. gold coinage was suspended by the federal government by order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Today, the Double Eagle $20 gold pieces form the backbone of the U.S. rare coin market and are also one of the most significant gold acquisitions available.

This is due to the fact that the Double Eagle contains nearly a full ounce of gold and due to the great deal of attention and publicity that has been focused on the Double Eagle for generations.

The $20 Double Eagle As An Investment

For many years, the $20 Double Eagle gold piece has been one of America’s most popular gold pieces.

Because it performs multiple functions in virtually all economic conditions, it is not possible to say that one time is better than another to buy $20 Double Eagles today.

First and foremost, $20 Double Eagles are financial insurance. Each example contains nearly an ounce of gold. This makes them among the most secure acquisitions in the world.

This is because of the fact that gold has traditionally served as a safe haven for people in a variety of economic and geopolitical conditions. These conditions are often impossible to predict.

For example, the stock market crash of October 1987 and the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, were events which had a profound impact on the financial markets, but which were, for the most part, unexpected (at least in terms of their timing). In both cases, gold served in its role as a safe haven, holding its value while other markets shuddered and fell.

Because the events that bring gold’s safe haven role to the fore are so often unexpected and even unpredictable, trying to determine “when” to buy $20 gold coins is a loser’s proposition. In order to benefit from gold’s role as a safe haven, store of value and medium of exchange during an economic or geopolitical crisis, gold must be a permanent part of your investment portfolio.

Chances are, if you wait until you really need gold, you will pay too much for it—and, because it is scarce, it may not even be available at all.

This is especially true of $20 Double Eagle gold pieces. Double Eagles are far scarcer than modern bullion coins, such as the South African Krugerrand, the Gold American Eagle and the Canadian Maple Leaf.

This scarcity brings us to the $20 Double Eagle’s other qualities which are of vital importance to their owners.

Because $20 Double Eagle gold coins are indeed scarce, they tend to outperform gold bullion during periods in which the price of gold is rising.

Owners of these coins can truly “have their cake and eat it too” with the $20 Double Eagle. They get all the inherent security benefits of an investment rich in gold, combined with the added “horsepower” brought on by their rarity.

Not only can this scarcity help $20 Double Eagles outperform gold bullion during periods of rising gold prices, but the rarity factor can also result in Double Eagles outperforming gold bullion during periods of falling gold prices. This is because there have been times when the rare coin market has appreciated substantially while gold has actually fallen in price.

The rule of thumb goes like this: there has never been a bull market in gold that was not accompanied by a bull market in rare coins, but there have been bull markets in rare coins that have occurred when the price of gold was actually falling.

But if people wait for some phantom “perfect time” to buy $20 gold coins, they may never receive the benefits that these coins offer. The best time to buy? Now.