1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 445,500 made
- Mintage
- 445,500
- 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 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle worth?
It's scarcer than a typical date, so even circulated examples sell above face and above their metal value. The best uncirculated coins are where the money is.
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 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle rare?
- Yes. Only 445,500 were made, 20th lowest of the 52 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle real gold?
- No, it's gold: 0.9675 troy ounces of pure gold.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle?
- On the obverse, above the date. Philadelphia coins have no mint mark.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1933 are scarcer?
- None. Within five years either side, no Philadelphia issue had a smaller mintage than the 1933.
- How many 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle coins were made?
- 445,500.
What to check on your 1933
- 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.
- 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 1933 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 1933
Output at Philadelphia slipped to 445,500 in 1933, from 1.1 million the year before. It was also the last year of the series.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1933 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1914-D (453,000) and the 1910-D (429,000).
Across Philadelphia's 24 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle issues, the hardest to find is the 1907 (High Relief) with 12,367 made. The 1933 is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1930s it's 3rd smallest of 5, between the 1931-D (106,500) and the 1932 (1.1 million).
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 1933
President Roosevelt's Executive Order 6102 required most gold coins to be turned in to the government. More than 445,000 double eagles dated 1933 were struck but never officially released. US gold coinage for circulation ended.
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 | 1933 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 445,500 |
| 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.