1885 Liberty Head Double Eagle

About This Coin

The 1885 Liberty Head Double Eagle is a United States Gold Double Eagle from the Liberty Head Double Eagles 1849-1907 series — 37th of 59 years in the series. In 1885, coins were struck at the Philadelphia, Carson City, and San Francisco Mints with a combined mintage of 693,778. This ranks 4th of 58 years by total mintage, below the series median of 1.4 million. The obverse features Liberty facing left wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY and the reverse displays a heraldic eagle with shield on breast, olive branch and arrows in talons, with a banner reading E PLURIBUS UNUM surrounded by a glory of rays. The 1885 Philadelphia issue has a very low mintage. Carson City and San Francisco continued. Struck in 90% gold, 10% copper, weighing 33.4 grams, 34 mm in diameter, with a reeded edge. Struck one year before the 1886 key date, the lowest-mintage regular issue in the series. Across its variants, estimated values range from $4.9K to $168K depending on mint mark, grade, and strike type. A notable auction result reached $264K in MS63 grade at Stack's Bowers. Designed by James Barton Longacre.