1931 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 2,938,250 made
- Mintage
- 2,938,250
- 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 1931 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle worth?
Its gold content does most of the work: a genuine 1931 is worth at least its 0.9675 troy ounces of gold. Collector demand adds a premium for better grades.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1931 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle rare?
- Not by date: 2.9 million were struck. A sharp uncirculated coin or a known variety is what makes one special.
- Is the 1931 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle real gold?
- No, it's gold: 0.9675 troy ounces of pure gold.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1931 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle?
- On the obverse, above the date. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1931 are scarcer?
- The 1933 at 445,500, the 1926 at 816,750, the 1932 at 1,101,750, plus 1 more. So the 1931 is one of the easier dates of its stretch.
- How many 1931 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle coins were made?
- 2,938,250.
What to check on your 1931
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- 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 1931 weighs 33.436 g and measures 34 mm. Buy certified examples from a reputable dealer.
The story of the 1931
Philadelphia hadn't struck the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle since 1929. When it came back in 1931, it made 2,938,250. In 1932 the figure was 1.1 million.
It was the big producer of the year, well ahead of 1931-D (106,500).
Across Philadelphia's 24 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle issues, the hardest to find is the 1907 (High Relief) with 12,367 made. The 1931 is one of the easier ones. No Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle of the 1930s had a bigger 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 1931
Coin production fell to some of the lowest levels of the century as the Depression deepened, creating key dates such as the 1931-S cent.
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 | 1931 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 2,938,250 |
| 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 1931 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle | 2,938,250 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1931-D Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle | 106,500 | Circulation strike | – |
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.