Liberty Head double eagle

1849 Liberty Head double eagle, a $20 gold pattern designed by James B. Longacre. This is the first double eagle, and the only confirmed example of its date. It was struck only as a pattern, a test run of the new $20 dies, and it sits in the Smithsonian's National Numismatic Collection. Look at how tall Liberty's head stands in the field. Longacre's first model proved too high in relief, and the Mint's own chief coiner wrote that the steel would not sustain the pressure needed for a perfect impression. Regular double eagles followed in 1850.