THE 1933 DOUBLE EAGLE
In June 2021, a single United States gold coin sold at auction for $18.8 million, the highest sum ever paid for a coin. The 1933 $20 gold piece, or double eagle as is it is usually called, was the center of widespread publicity for months before the auction, primarily because it is the only coin of this date and denomination permitted by the United States government to be privately owned.
It has been widely speculated that other 1933 double eagles will eventually come out of hiding even though the government will not authorize a sale in this country. There is little that the U.S. Treasury can do with respect to an auction held by one of the major European numismatic firms, and many think that such an event is only a matter of time.
The groundwork for this rare gold coin was laid in the early weeks of 1933 when President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt was formulating the policies for his new administration, which would assume office on March 4. Rumors began to circulate in financial circles that gold coins would be called in by the Treasury, and some wealthier citizens began to ship gold abroad for safekeeping.
As the nation teetered on the edge of fiscal anarchy, Roosevelt was duly inaugurated on March 4 and soon issued a series of executive orders designed to calm public fears about the economy. One such decree, of March 6, closed the banks for four days
