A copy called the Double Eagle was released in 1933 and was never in circulation.
The US Double Eagle gold coin with a face value of $20 on Tuesday, June 8, was sold at Sotheby’s in New York for a record amount of $19.5 million. It refers to the last gold banknotes allowed to circulate in the United States.
On the obverse of the coin is the goddess of Freedom, on the reverse-the bald eagle, which is the national symbol of the United States.
This copy was released in 1933 and has never been in circulation. The United States under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt abandoned the gold standard. The manufactured coins had to be melted down, but several pieces survived.
Since 2002, the coin has been owned by American shoe designer Stuart Weitzman, who bought it for $7.6 million. At the time of the acquisition, this amount was also a record. The name of the new buyer is still unknown. Weizmann said he would use the profits from the sale of the Double Eagle and two rare stamps to support his charitable projects, including medical research, the School of Design, and the Jewish Museum in Madrid.
