With nearly three million coins produced, the 1861 $20 Double Eagle has the largest mintage from the Philadelphia Mint for any Type 1 double eagle. In late 1861 when the outcome of the Civil War was uncertain, many banks stopped paying out gold coins at par in exchange for paper money. This led to hoarding, which accounts for the survival of 200 or more Mint State coins today. Strike quality is usually sharp, and the luster varies between frosty and satiny, both of which are above-average in eye appeal for the type. The 1861 $20 is plentiful in all circulated grades, with an estimated 6,000-8,000 coins available up through Choice AU. The vast majority of the 66 Proofs that were struck went unsold and were later melted, leaving just five that can be accounted for today.

Circulation strikes of the 1861 Philadelphia Mint Paquet Reverse double eagle were produced in an unknown quantity on or by January 5, 1861, until the use of the revised reverse die was halted. The fate of the struck pieces is unknown. Just two examples of the 1861 Paquet $20 Double Eagle have been discovered and, surprisingly, both of those have survived in Mint State condition. The finest of these is the Brand-Farouk-Norweb coin that is estimated to grade MS-67, followed by the Dallas Bank example graded MS-61 by PCGS.

Type 1A: Modified Reverse, the 1861 Paquet Reverse Double Eagles
From 1850 onward Philadelphia and branch mints had problems with the excessive cracking of double eagle reverse dies and produced many extra dies to address this issue. For instance, 13 new obverse dies were made and 33 reverse dies were made for coinage at the Philadelphia Mint in 1851. The next year nearly twice as many reverse dies were made than obverse dies. The task of revising the reverse design was undertaken by Anthony C. Paquet starting with pattern coins in 1859.

His design used for regular coinage in 1861 featured the reverse border inscription, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA above and TWENTY D. below. The letters were arranged more compactly providing for a generous space between the two groups of words. Coinage of double eagles with the new Paquet design commenced at the Philadelphia Mint in January 1861. However, due to a problem with the die, production was halted by Mint Director James Ross Snowden, who dispatched a note to the San Francisco Mint to stop production with the new die as well. Only two Philadelphia Mint coins exist today. By the time the San Francisco Mint received his note, a number of double eagles had already been struck and issued.

We wrote the following in our August 2021 Auction Catalog, saying: "With 2,976,453 pieces produced, the 1861 has the highest mintage of any pre-1904 double eagle. Prior to the salvage of shipwreck treasures such as that of the S.S. Central America, this was the most available issue of the Type I Liberty Head design. The onset of the Civil War resulted in Northern banks suspending gold specie payments in December 1861. Hoarding began, an activity that probably accounts for most of the several hundred Mint State survivors of this issue. Given the popularity of the Liberty Head double eagle series with today's advanced gold specialists, Choice Uncirculated examples such as this are scarce from a market availability standpoint."

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in August 2013 as part of the Rarities Night Auction, where it realized $352,500.