Lot 1315
1920-S $20 St. Gaudens. PCGS graded MS-64. A wonderful full strike including full facial features on Liberty. The lustrous surfaces exhibit delicate mint bloom colors. A brilliant coin with dazzling luster, so unusual for this extremely rare S-mint date, virtually three-dimensional, almost jumping out at the viewer. Talk about a '20-S with a lot of life! Beyond that, the striking is needle sharp, everything comes together to yield an opportunity that should be quite electrifying.
A solidly graded example is also something to talk about, since this specimen displays only the barest minimum "identifying" marks. We can list them in an instant since there are so few: a series of small scuffs to the left and right of the torch end, including a minor nick on the torch itself; a further tiny scuff line in Liberty's gown folds about in line with her kneecap; on the eagle's wings, a few light marks including one shallow horizontal depression on the trailing flight feathers above the thigh of the leg. Best of all, the rims are quite choice. They are free of the usual sad indignities like marks or edge bumps. To reiterate, the strike is complete, the luster swimming, with nothing, repeat, nothing, keeping this coin out of its stated Mint State 64 grade. Pop 11; 3 in 65, 2 in 66 (PCGS # 9171) .
The history of this 1920-S issue is sad but interesting. As is the case with other $20 gold pieces struck during the Roaring 'Twenties and early 'Thirties, mainly these were stored in bank vaults as backing for checking account deposits and Gold Certificates, the principal "hard money" back then. People have forgotten that under a gold standard (which ended in 1933), paper money and checking deposits weren't money at all but were commonly termed "money substitutes" or "promised money" payable on demand in the monetary metal. They were described as such in the college textbooks.
All went fairly well but with emerging distress in the system when, at the depths of the Great Depression in 1933, a banking panic caused the Roosevelt administration to withdraw gold from circulation. The amount withdrawn is estimated at $2.8 billion (or approximately. $130 billion at today's gold price).
Whatever coins resided in the banks and at the various sub-Treasury buildings around the country were transferred to the government's account. In their place, the was issued Series of 1929 Federal Reserve Bank Notes. Numismatists may remember these from their brown seal and serial numbers. These had the backing of The Full Faith and Credit of the Government instead of hard assets.
(Most 1920-S twenties that weren't exported from this group now owned by the government were melted beginning in 1937, to be turned into heavy 400-oz. "Coin-Gold" .900 Fine bars that are today stored in such depositories as Fort Knox. Gold ownership was re-legalized in January 1975, through an act of congress.).
Estimated Value $150,000 - 165,000.
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