The 1861-S $20 Double Eagle is a challenging issue to obtain with good overall quality, as the obverse tends to exhibit a general softness to all elements and the luster can be grainy or rough in some cases. Examples are readily available in circulated condition, with a particular concentration of pieces in Extremely Fine grades. AU examples were once considered very scarce before quantities were found on the shipwrecks of the SS Republic and the SS Brother Jonathan, contributing to about 500 coins in total at that grade level. Fewer coins were recovered in Mint State, however, and just 60-80 Uncirculated pieces remain.

We wrote the following in our April 2022 Auction Catalog, saying: "After producing 19,250 double eagles in early 1861 using the famed Paquet Reverse, the San Francisco Mint went on to strike an additional 768,000 examples using the pre-existing "regular" Longacre reverse. Most of these coins entered circulation in the West and were eagerly accepted, leaving most survivors in heavily worn condition for today's collectors. Recovered treasure ship finds have yielded the majority of the estimated 40 to 55 Mint State survivors, most of which have already been snatched up by collectors and are solidly off the market as part of tightly held collections."

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.