The Most Expensive Coin in the World: the American "Double Eagle"

29.10.2021

Updated: October 2026 · Average reading time — 5 minutes

In June 2021, Sotheby's in New York sold a single American gold coin for $18,872,250 — about $18.9 million. The coin was a 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, and the sale made it the most expensive coin ever sold at auction. Its story involves a president, a missing hoard, a king, a sting operation and decades of court battles.

What is a Double Eagle?

The "Double Eagle" is the name of the United States' $20 gold coin — twice the value of the $10 "Eagle". From 1907 the coin carried a design by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted American coins to be as beautiful as those of ancient Greece. Many collectors still consider it the most beautiful American coin ever made.

On the obverse, a full-length figure of Liberty holds a torch and an olive branch; the reverse shows an American eagle in flight.

In the photo: on the obverse, a full-length figure of Liberty holds a torch and an olive branch; the reverse shows an American eagle in flight.

The Most Expensive Coin in the World: the American "Double Eagle"

A coin that was never released

In 1933 the US Mint in Philadelphia struck 445,500 Double Eagles. But in the same year, during the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard for domestic purposes. An executive order required Americans to hand most of their gold coins, bullion and gold certificates over to the Federal Reserve.

The 1933 Double Eagles were never issued to the public. Two coins were sent to the Smithsonian Institution for the national collection, and the rest were ordered to be melted down into gold bars.

The missing coins

Years later, examples of the 1933 Double Eagle began to appear on the market. Investigations concluded that a small number of coins had left the Mint illegally before the melt, and that many of them had passed through the hands of a Philadelphia jeweler named Israel Switt. The US Secret Service tracked down and seized several coins in the 1940s.

One coin escaped. In 1944 King Farouk of Egypt, a passionate collector, bought a 1933 Double Eagle, and an export licence was issued for it — apparently by mistake — before the government realised the coin should not exist outside the Mint. Requests to return it were never fulfilled, and the coin disappeared from view after Farouk was overthrown in 1952.

A sting at the Waldorf-Astoria

In 1996 the British dealer Stephen Fenton tried to sell a 1933 Double Eagle in New York. The buyer turned out to be an undercover Secret Service agent, and the coin was seized at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. Fenton said the coin had come from King Farouk's collection. After years of legal proceedings, the parties settled: the coin would be sold, and the proceeds would be divided between Fenton and the US government. The government also issued a special document "monetising" the coin — making it the only 1933 Double Eagle that can be privately and legally owned.

Two record sales

2002: at an auction by Sotheby's and Stack's in New York, the coin sold for $7,590,020 — at the time a world record for a coin. The buyer was later revealed to be the shoe designer Stuart Weitzman.
2021: Weitzman offered the coin at Sotheby's, where it sold for $18,872,250 to a buyer whose name was not announced. It remains the highest price ever paid for a coin at auction.

Ten more coins and a court battle

In 2004 the family of Israel Switt said it had found ten more 1933 Double Eagles in a safe deposit box and handed them to the Mint for authentication. The government kept the coins, and the family sued. After more than a decade of litigation, the courts ruled that the coins were government property. They are now held by the US Mint, and none of them can be bought or sold.

Why it is worth so much

Rarity: only one example can be legally owned by a private collector.
History: it is the last American gold coin made for circulation and a symbol of the end of the gold standard in the United States.
Beauty: the Saint-Gaudens design is regarded as a masterpiece of coin art.
The story: theft, a king's collection, a sting operation and record auctions have made the coin legendary.

The 1933 Double Eagle shows that a gold coin's value can far exceed the value of the metal it contains. Most gold coins, of course, are bought for a simpler reason: they are a convenient way to own physical gold.

Frequently asked questions

How much did the 1933 Double Eagle sell for?

It sold at Sotheby's in New York in June 2021 for $18,872,250, the highest price ever paid for a coin at auction.

Can you legally own a 1933 Double Eagle?

Only one example — the coin sold in 2002 and 2021 — has been officially monetised by the US government and can be privately owned. Other known examples are held by the government.