1885-S $20 MS(PCGS#9005)

December 2025 Showcase Auction - The James A. Stack, Sr. Collection Part I

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

20042

Grade

MS63+

Price

10,800

Lot Description

This satiny golden-honey and pinkish-rose example is sharply struck throughout with outstanding eye appeal. The mintage for this issue is 683,500 coins. Similar to contemporary San Francisco Mint twenties most 1885-S examples promptly entered circulation; many others were shipped overseas as a component of international trade, and still others were set aside for the backing of Gold Certificates. David W. Akers, writing in 1982, enumerated a few dozen Uncirculated examples that he found listed in a survey of major auction sales going back to the 1940s. By 2004, when Q. David Bowers penned his <em>Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins</em>, the supply was estimated at between 2,000 and 4,000 examples, this after significant quantities of classic U.S. Mint gold coins had been repatriated from foreign bank hoards. While plentiful in lower grades, the 1885-S remains scarce to rare in grades that approach Gem Mint State. This is an exquisite coin at the MS-63+ level and worthy of the strongest bids.