While this Philadelphia issue is not as scarce as it once was considered to be, overall quality tends to be poor. Striking definition is typically be inconsistent across the obverse, and bagmarks are often abundant. Patient searching will certainly reward the astute collector. Circulated 1857 $20 double eagles are plentiful, becoming only slightly scarce in Choice AU. However, availability becomes sparse in Mint State, with just 30 to 50 surviving pieces estimated, the finest of which is an MS-64+ (PCGS).

We wrote the following in our June 2020 Auction Catalog, saying: "The Philadelphia Mint produced slightly more double eagles in 1857 than it did the previous year, although this issue's mintage of 439,375 circulation strikes is still modest for the era. Face value for the issue amounted to $8,787,500. Perhaps 40 to 60 or so different Mint State examples are extant, with nearly all confined to the MS-60 to MS-62 grade range. Just seven coins can be counted higher at PCGS."

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in August 2014, where it realized $30,550.