1887 $20, CAM PR(PCGS#89103)

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

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

20044

Grade

PR63CAM

Price

150,000

Lot Description

Offered is a particularly intriguing example of this legendary Proof-only Type III Liberty Head double eagle. First and foremost, of course, it is a lovely Select Cameo Proof as certified by PCGS. The otherwise warm orange-gold color that blankets both sides gives way to deeper olive-gold undertones as the surfaces turn away from direct lighting. Fully struck and crisp, the motifs further contrast the mirrored fields with a softly frosted finish. The Proof-63 grade is explained by some faint hairlining and associated haziness to the surfaces, but there are no sizable handling marks, and plenty of eye appeal is noted.<p>Interestingly, while the PCGS insert captures this coin's technical quality through the PR63CAM grade, it makes no mention of what is perhaps its most intriguing attribute. The reverse is actually double struck, and quite clearly so if one knows how and where to look. In-hand viewing gives no hint of this feature, but when the central reverse is examined under magnification, there are faint remnants of the first strike within the recesses of the vertical shield stripes as well as in the field areas enclosed by the scroll upon which the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM is inscribed. This impression is rotated several degree clockwise relative to the primary strike.<p>Among the rarest Type III Proofs ever released to collectors, this design was modified from the Type II double eagles by the then-aging (and soon to expire), Chief Engraver William Barber. Barber would be replaced in the position by his son, Charles E. Barber, in 1879. The Liberty head on the Type III is more upright and placed squarely in the center of the design. Barber then adjusted the reverse by including the denomination in its entirety, TWENTY DOLLARS, along with many other subtle changes to the central motifs. A marvelous improvement, many would say, and nicely displayed for all to admire in this Cameo specimen from the James A. Stack, Sr. Collection.<p>This coin is from the end of a run of extraordinarily rare Proof-only or virtually Proof-only Philadelphia Mint double eagle issues struck in the 1880s. There were only 121 Proof double eagles made in 1887, with none struck for circulation. In all grades, this Proof-only date is considered an extreme rarity, the total extant population on the order of just 30 to 40 coins (per John W. Dannreuther, 2018).