Similar to the 1850 double eagle struck in Philadelphia, the 1850-O $20 double eagle, the first double eagle minted in New Orleans, is fairly scarce and highly desirable. High grade pieces are partially or fully prooflike. Some coins are lightly struck at the centers of the obverse as can be seen from a higher area of the curls below the coronet. The stars and date occasionally show weakness either due to striking or re-lapping of the die. Circulated examples of this low-mintage issue are moderately scarce, becoming very scarce to rare in About Uncirculated condition. True Mint State pieces are exceedingly rare, with no more than 6 to 8 pieces remaining. Currently the finest known example is an MS-62 (NGC) from the Dallas Bank Collection. Now, more than a century and a half since they were originally minted, there is no reason to think many more MS examples will be found.

We wrote the following in our August 2022 Auction Catalog, saying: "The perennially popular 1850-O is the premier double eagle from the Louisiana branch mint. A mintage of 141,000 pieces for this issue is considerably lower than the 1,170,261-coin mintage reported for the Philadelphia Mint's circulation strike delivery of the year. This began a trend that would continue throughout the early New Orleans Mint double eagle series of 1850 to 1861. While the vast quantities of gold that flowed east from California provided the bullion for double eagle coinage at both the Philadelphia and New Orleans mints, the majority of this precious metal found its way to the Northeast rather than the Deep South.

The 1850-O is one of the more challenging early date New Orleans Mint double eagles to collect. Survivors are rarer than those of the 1851-O and 1852-O issues, and most are well worn in grades such as VF or EF. As with the Philadelphia Mint's issue of 1850, the 1850-O saw extensive use in domestic circulation, primarily in regions west of the Mississippi River where gold coins were a preferred medium of exchange. Other examples were exported, primarily to London, where they were eventually melted. With its first year status resulting in particularly strong demand among mintmarked gold type collectors and New Orleans Mint enthusiasts."

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in June 2010, where it realized $32,200. It is pedigreed to the Windermere Collection.