Minted in significantly lower quantities than the Philadelphia issue of the same year, though posting a mintage figure nearly double that of the next most common issue from the New Orleans Mint. 1851-O $20 double eagles have a strike that is overall sharp and among the most well produced issues from New Orleans in particular. Examples are readily available in circulated grades up through lower levels in the About Uncirculated category, becoming very scarce at the Choice AU level. Mint State coins are very rare, with fewer than two dozen examples qualifying, none of which grade finer than MS-63.

After a modest mintage of 141,000 pieces in 1850, the New Orleans Mint increased double eagle output to 315,000 coins in 1851. Clearly more gold from California reached the Crescent City, and the 1851-O actually has the highest mintage among New Orleans Mint double eagles. Perhaps not surprisingly, this is the most frequently encountered O-Mint double eagle in numismatic circles. Survivors are scarce in an absolute sense, however, and particularly relative to those of many Philadelphia Mint issues of the era such as the 1851, 1852 and 1853. As with all early date Liberty Head double eagle issues, the 1851-O is typically offered in circulated grades, most examples grading EF-40 through low end AU. Mint State survivors are exceedingly rare, most of which have survived purely as a matter of chance. There was no contemporary numismatic interest in these early double eagles, especially from the New Orleans Mint. Writing in the 2004 reference A Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins, Q. David Bowers asserts that only six to 10 Uncirculated 1851-O double eagles are extant, although Doug Winter gives an updated estimate of 15 to 20 such pieces in the 2020 edition of Gold Coins of the New Orleans Mint: 1839-1909. Recent finds in Europe and elsewhere have increased the total and account for Winter's range, but in an absolute sense Mint State 1851-O double eagles remain rare.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in April 2022 as part of the Fairmont Collection, Hendricks Set, where it realized $50,400.