The 1861-S Paquet $20 double eagle is the rarest of all San Francisco Mint coins of this denomination. This is a popular coin, both for its back story and as the only readily collectible sample of the Paquet Reverse. Fewer than 200 coins are available for today’s collectors, and all of those have been subject to some degree of circulation. The population is heavily distributed throughout the VF and EF grades, with many pieces plagued by harsh cleaning and other damage. Just 25 to 35 examples can be found in About Uncirculated condition, with about 10 Choice AUs to represent the pinnacle of the issue.

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.

Believed to be the son of bronze-worker Toussaint Francois Paquet, Anthony C. Paquet was born in Hamburg, Germany on December 5, 1814, and arrived in Philadelphia in 1848. At some point in the mid-1850s, Paquet opened an engraving business in New York, during which time he is believed to have struck several medals, apparently all unsigned, except for THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS ECHO BACK FREMONT campaign medal. In early 1857, Paquet took up contract work for the Philadelphia Mint before finally being hired on as an assistant engraver. Among his projects at the Mint were mostly pattern coins, including a fascinating copper double eagle pattern, Judd-257.

By far his most well-known work is that of the United States military's highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor instituted by President Abraham Lincoln on July 12, 1861, the pattern for which bears Paquet's script signature on the obverse. He is also thought to have prepared a set of letter punches that were used on several patterns, but also are believed to have planned for use on regular circulation dimes, quarters, and half dollars, though this never came to fruition. To this day, the reverse dies he prepared for the 1861 double eagles remain the only coin designs that have been positively attributed to Paquet, having left the Mint in 1864 and returned to private business, though he continued to take on government work periodically. Anthony Paquet died in Philadelphia in 1882.

One of the defining features of Paquet's double eagle is the tall and thin logotype style he preferred as compared to the rather squat font employed by Chief Engraver James Barton Longacre. The most readily apparent diagnostic between the Paquet reverse and the regular Longacre reverse may be found with the letter O. The Paquet logotype has an extremely thin space between the uprights on the letter, while Longacre's is significantly wider and much more of a circle. Another defining indicator is how the central halo of stars above the eagle interacts with the rays; they are separate on the Paquet reverse but are nestled in with the rays on the normal reverse die. Paquet prepared four sets of dies using his distinctive lettering for use at the Philadelphia Mint, as well as the branch mints at New Orleans and San Francisco. In early December, the dies were shipped to San Francisco and to New Orleans a few days later, along with a note instructing the coiner that they "will require the modification of the milling to suit the border."

On January 5, 1861 production with the new reverse dies began at Philadelphia Mint and was almost immediately halted after concerns were raised that the narrow rim of the reverse design would lead to poor wearing characteristics. Mint Director James Ross Snowden sent directives to New Orleans and San Francisco to cease use of the new dies and instead go back to using the original Longacre dies. New Orleans received this message with ample time for the branch mint's officials to withdraw the new dies from service and no 1861-O double eagles were struck using them. The story was different with the directive sent to San Francisco. Messages sent to the West Coast required using telegraph and overland express and took a very long time to reach their intended destination. Snowden's directive did not reach the San Francisco Mint until early February but not before 19,250 double eagles with Paquet's reverse were struck and subsequently issued before the cease order could be implemented.

Only two confirmed examples of the Philadelphia Mint Paquet reverse double eagles are known making it one of the greatest American numismatic rarities. The 1861-S Paquet reverse $20 exists in somewhat larger numbers, with estimates ranging from as few as 100 coins to nearly 275 surviving pieces. As with much of the early products of the San Francisco Mint, what few coins that were released into commerce stayed there and saw heavy use. Most are heavily worn and to this day, not a single problem-free Mint State example has been confirmed by either certification service.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in June 2014 Auction, where it realized $188,000.