1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 149,750 made
- Mintage
- 149,750
- Metal
- 90% gold, 10% copper
- Weight
- 33.436 g
- Diameter
- 34 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle worth?
Few coins in the series are harder to find. Even a worn 1912 sells well above face value. The flip side is that counterfeits and altered dates are common, so authentication matters.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle rare?
- Yes. Only 149,750 were made, 8th lowest of the 52 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle real gold?
- No, it's gold: 0.9675 troy ounces of pure gold.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle?
- On the obverse, above the date. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1912 are scarcer?
- The 1907 (High Relief) at 12,367, the 1914 at 95,250. So the 1912 is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle coins were made?
- 149,750.
What to check on your 1912
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle Proof (74 made) is the one to compare with.
- Judge the grade under good light. Look at Liberty's breast and knee and at the eagle's wing feathers. Contact marks in the open fields are common on these heavy coins.
Gold coins are counterfeited more than any other US coins. A genuine 1912 weighs 33.436 g and measures 34 mm. Buy certified examples from a reputable dealer. Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1912
Philadelphia made 149,750 in 1912, down from 197,250 in 1911. The next year it made 168,780 (1913).
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1912 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1915 (152,000) and the 1908 (With Motto) (156,258).
Only the 1907 (High Relief) and the 1914 have a lower mintage among Philadelphia's 24 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles. Within the 1910s it's 3rd smallest of 16, between the 1914 (95,250) and the 1915 (152,000).
The 1909/8 and the 48 stars (1909 to 1916)
The 1909/8 overdate came from a 1908 die altered for the new year. Traces of the 8 can be seen within the 9 under a loupe. The 1909-D with 52,500 struck and the 1913-S with 34,000 are the scarce dates of the period. In 1912 two stars were added to the ring on the obverse, raising it from 46 to 48 for New Mexico and Arizona.
San Francisco struck large numbers in some years, including 2,774,925 in 1909 and 1,498,000 in 1914, while Philadelphia mintages stayed between about 95,000 and 482,000. Proofs of these years were made in very small numbers with matte and satin-like finishes. No double eagles were made after the 1916-S until 1920. Branch mint coins of this era are often found with heavy bag marks.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1912
Denver and San Francisco struck nickels for the first time, the only branch-mint Liberty Head nickels. It was the last regular year of the design.
How to recognize it
Liberty strides forward holding a torch and an olive branch, with the Capitol building at her feet and rays of the sun behind her. The reverse shows an eagle in flight above a rising sun. The edge is lettered E PLURIBUS UNUM between stars. The 1907 high relief coins show the date in Roman numerals; later coins use Arabic numerals and lower relief.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle (1907–1933) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1912 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 149,750 |
| Face value | $20 |
| Composition | 90% gold, 10% copper |
| Weight | 33.436 grams |
| Diameter | 34 mm |
| Edge | Lettered E PLURIBUS UNUM |
| Designer | Augustus Saint-Gaudens |
Other 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle | 149,750 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1912 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle Proof | 74 | Proof | – |
Mintage: Saint-Gaudens double eagle (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.