1930-S Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 74,000 made
- Mintage
- 74,000
- 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 1930-S Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle worth?
Few coins in the series are harder to find. Even a worn 1930-S 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 1930-S Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle rare?
- Yes. Only 74,000 were made, 5th lowest of the 52 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1930-S Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle real gold?
- No, it's gold: 0.9675 troy ounces of pure gold.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1930 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle?
- On the obverse, above the date. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1930 are scarcer?
- None. Within five years either side, no San Francisco issue had a smaller mintage than the 1930-S.
- How many 1930-S Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle coins were made?
- 74,000.
What to check on your 1930-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread.
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- 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 1930-S 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 mint mark and date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1930-S
San Francisco hadn't struck the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle since 1927. When it came back in 1930, it made 74,000. It turned out to be San Francisco's last Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle for circulation.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1930 you find is from San Francisco. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1914 (95,250) and the 1909-D (52,500).
Only the 1908-S (With Motto) and the 1913-S have a lower mintage among San Francisco's 15 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles. No Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle of the 1930s had a smaller run.
Late dates and the 1933 double eagle (1929 to 1933)
Double eagles from 1929 to 1932 were struck in good numbers but few were ever released. The 1929, 1930-S, 1931, 1931-D and 1932 are all rare because nearly every coin was melted after the gold recall. Survivors are mostly uncirculated and well struck, since they never saw use in commerce. The 1931-D had a mintage of just 106,500. Counterfeits of these late dates exist, so buy them only certified.
The 1933, with 445,500 struck, was never issued. A few left the Mint unofficially and the government pursued them for decades. Only one example, once owned by King Farouk of Egypt, has been legally cleared for private ownership. The rest of the mintage was melted. The series ended with these coins because gold coinage for circulation stopped in 1933.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1930
The last Standing Liberty quarters were struck. The economic depression cut demand for new coins sharply.
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 | 1930 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 74,000 |
| Face value | $20 |
| Composition | 90% gold, 10% copper |
| Weight | 33.436 grams |
| Diameter | 34 mm |
| Edge | Lettered E PLURIBUS UNUM |
| Designer | Augustus Saint-Gaudens |
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.