US Mint Gold Coins – All You Need To Know

The manufacturer of gold coins in the U.S. is the U.S. Mint. It achieved a record sale of its one ounce gold coins recently in May 2010 with a total of 190,000 pieces sold. This is the highest volume since the last record in January 1999 when it sold 208,500 pieces of the same one ounce gold coins.

The Gold American Eagle performed exceedingly well in terms of sales with a 214% record just in April 2010. This was in spite of the volatility of the US dollar with the European macro-economic worries at that time. Gold bullion prices rose to $1.248.95 per oz for a record high in the month of May in 2010.

Various Gold Coins by US Mint

Basically there are 3 types of gold coins that were produced by the US Mint: the Liberty twenty dollar gold coin, the St. Gaudens twenty dollar gold coin and the Gold American Eagle bullion.

Liberty gold coin

The Liberty $20 coin was a special design of James Longacre. It weighs 33.43 grams with 0.9675 ounces of gold content in it. With its 90% gold composition, the Liberty coin is really scarce which leads to its high demand and popularity amongst coin collectors and investors.

There are 3 types of Liberty coins; type I, type II and type III. Type I Liberty coins were minted between 1849 and 1866 and Type II Liberty coins were minted during 1866 to 1876 whereas Type III was minted between 1877 and 1907. Only 5 mints were privileged to mint the Liberty $20 coins; they were the Philadelphia Mint, Denver Mint, San Francisco Mint, New Orleans Mint, and Carson City Mint. Then, the official gold price was fixed at $20.67 an ounce. Its fixed gold content at 0.9675/oz equalled $20 in its gold weight.

St. Gaudens gold coin

The Saint Gaudens twenty dollar gold coin was a special design of Augustus St. Gaudens. It weighs 33.43 gm with 0.9675 ounce gold content. The $20 Saint Gaudens gold coin was much coveted with its 90% gold composition during the 19th and 20th centuries’ Industrial Revolution in the US.

In 2002, the Double Eagle fetched over $7.5 million when sold at Sotheby’s, New York. Its 1933 mint is currently the world’s most valuable gold coin.

Gold American Eagle Bullion

The American Eagle gold coin is the US official bullion coin which was minted in 1986. It comes in 4 compositions of pure gold: 0.10, 0.25, 0.5 and one oz. These American Gold Eagle coins have been authorized and guaranteed on their gold content by the relevant US authorities such as the Congress and Treasury.