The 1860-S $20 double eagle tends to exhibit traces of softness across the obverse at the high points of Liberty's hair, with die cracks through the peripheral elements of both sides. The luster on this San Francisco mint issue is usually handsome on original examples, remaining soft and frosty with a sometimes grainy texture. The coins of this issue circulated extensively, leaving most survivors in Extremely Fine condition and readily available for today's collectors. While Choice AU examples are scarce, true Mint State pieces are rare, with just about two dozen pieces known up through MS-64.

We wrote the following in our April 2022 Auction Catalog, saying: "Federal records indicate that 544,950 double eagles were coined in the San Francisco Mint during 1860, these having a face value of $10,899,000. In 1982, David W. Akers found a scant five offerings of examples listed as Mint State in a survey of more than 400 major auction sales. Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth, in their Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins: 1795-1933 (2008), noted:

"This issue is very rare in Mint State. Only about two dozen Uncirculated coins are known, including examples found on the wrecks of the S.S. Brother Jonathan and S.S. Republic."

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 $36,000.