1866 Double Eagle Patterns

About This Coin

Produced at the Philadelphia Mint in the inaugural Reconstruction Era year, these double eagle ($20 gold) experimental pieces tested post-Civil War concepts for America's largest circulating denomination. The double eagle represented extraordinary purchasing power in 1866 — supporting a working family for weeks — and its role in international gold commerce gave its design outsized symbolic importance. Longacre's Liberty Head had served since 1849, and the 1866 patterns explored whether this relatively young design warranted updating. The obverse features experimental post-war designs, while the reverse tested compositions alongside the massive 33.4-gram gold planchet. A notable auction result of $35K in PR62 at Stack's confirms collector premiums. The Liberty Head double eagle continued until Augustus Saint-Gaudens's revolutionary 1907 redesign, widely considered the most beautiful American coin. These 1866 patterns document an earlier generation's attempt to reimagine the denomination, four decades before presidential intervention elevated the double eagle to fine art.