1879-O Liberty Double Eagle: The Final New Orleans $20
Coin Encyclopedia · 9 min read · Published November 7, 2026
New Orleans struck its first double eagle in 1854, and its last in 1879. Twenty-five years apart, and the last one is the rarer of the two: only 2,325 of the 1879-O were struck, against 3,250 for the first year. The 1879-O is the final $20 gold coin ever struck at New Orleans, a Type 3 Liberty double eagle with the denomination spelled out as TWENTY DOLLARS, and it closes a chapter that began with California gold arriving by sea. If you hold one today, you are holding the end of New Orleans double eagles, and the end is the scarcest part of the story.
This page is about that final year. The 1879-O is a Type 3 Liberty double eagle, designed by James B. Longacre, struck when the New Orleans Mint was winding down its gold coinage, and struck in numbers so small that genuine examples are scarce in every grade. Our guide has not yet researched grade-by-grade figures for this date, so the table below is empty. The history is not.
The last twenty from New Orleans
The New Orleans Mint had been striking coins since 1838, through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the great silver years. By 1879 it was a different mint from the one that had struck the first double eagle in 1854. The nation's gold coinage was concentrated at Philadelphia and San Francisco, where the metal was, and New Orleans struck gold only in small numbers, when the deposits and the demand were there. The 1879-O double eagle was one of those small strikings: 2,325 coins, and then the presses moved on to silver.
That closing gives the 1879-O a double identity. It is a scarce date of the Liberty double eagle series, and it is also a piece of New Orleans history — the last $20 gold coin from a mint that had served the South for forty-one years. Mint-mark collectors chase it for the O. Series collectors chase it because it is one of the scarcest late dates of the type. And New Orleans collectors chase it because there will never be another one.
The O mint mark sits on the reverse, below the eagle, and it is the first thing to find. A double eagle dated 1879 without an O is a Philadelphia coin, struck in large numbers. A double eagle dated 1879 with an O is a New Orleans coin, struck in 2,325, and the last of its kind. The letter is the coin.
The grade table, still to be researched
The table below is our researched collector estimates from the live guide, reviewed November 5, 2026. Grades our guide has not researched yet are shown as “—”, not guessed. For this date, that is every grade. No grade-by-grade figures are catalogued yet, so the table below is a statement of what we do not yet know, not a set of numbers to lean on.
| Grade | Estimated value |
|---|---|
| Good (G-4) | — |
| Fine (F-12) | — |
| Extremely Fine (XF-40) | — |
| About Uncirculated (AU-50) | — |
| Mint State 60 (MS-60) | — |
| Mint State 65 (MS-65) | — |
An empty table on a last-year coin can feel wrong, and it is worth saying why it is there. The grade table is built from researched figures, and the research has not reached this date yet. That does not make the coin common, and it does not make it cheap. It makes it unresearched, and the honest figure for it comes from the coin in hand, graded by a professional, and from the live feed on this page when newly reported results land. No one should quote you a figure for an 1879-O from a guide alone.
Type 3: TWENTY DOLLARS spelled out
The 1879-O is a Type 3 double eagle, and the type is easy to recognise once you know what to look for. The obverse shows Liberty wearing a coronet, with thirteen stars around the rim and the date 1879 below. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with a shield, an olive branch and arrows, and the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around it. Above the eagle, in a scroll, are the words IN GOD WE TRUST. Below the eagle, the denomination is spelled out in full: TWENTY DOLLARS.
That spelling is the mark of Type 3. The first two types read TWENTY D. — an abbreviation that the Mint used for nearly thirty years. In 1877 the Mint changed the reverse to spell out the denomination, and every double eagle from 1877 to the end of the series in 1907 carries TWENTY DOLLARS. So an 1879-O with TWENTY DOLLARS is exactly what it should be, and an 1879-O reading TWENTY D. is not genuine. The motto and the spelling together place the coin in the final type, struck in the last thirty years of the Liberty double eagle.
Longacre's design is the longest-running $20 design in American history, struck from 1849 to 1907. The 1879-O is one of its late branch-mint expressions, struck at a mint that was winding down, in the final type of a design that had already served for thirty years. The design did not change for New Orleans. The mintage did, and that was enough.
Why New Orleans stopped striking twenties
The New Orleans Mint did not close in 1879. It struck silver coinage for another thirty years, until 1909, and its final gold coins were the 1909-O half eagles and quarter eagles. But the double eagle left New Orleans in 1879, because the big gold coin no longer made sense there. The gold was in California, and the mints that coined it were Philadelphia and San Francisco. New Orleans struck silver for the South, and gold only in small numbers, when the deposits arrived.
That is the context for the 2,325. The 1879-O was not a special issue, and it was not a short run ordered for collectors. It was a working mint striking the coin it was asked for, in the numbers the gold allowed, in the last year anyone asked. The coins went into commerce in the South, wore down there, and were melted in later years. The survivors are the coins that were saved by accident — tucked away, forgotten, and found decades later.
Specs and the metal floor
The 1879-O double eagle weighs 33.436 grams and measures 34 millimetres across, struck in 90% gold and 10% copper. It holds 0.9675 troy ounces of pure gold — nearly a full ounce, the largest gold content of any regular United States coin. The specification is the same for every Liberty double eagle from 1849 to 1907. If you have handled any $20 gold coin, the 1879-O feels identical in the hand: heavy, broad, and unmistakably gold.
Metal floor: — The live melt figure on this site is calculated only for the $1 gold dollar, whose specification the Worker carries. Larger gold — $2.50, $5, $10 and $20 — has no live melt specification yet, so this page shows “—” for the metal floor rather than a computed figure. The weight above is the honest check: a genuine coin matches it, and a light coin is not genuine.
Weigh it first. A genuine double eagle is 33.436 grams, and a counterfeit in base metal will be far too light. Then measure it: 34 millimetres, with a reeded edge that is sharp and even all the way round. Then look at the design under a loupe — Longacre's Liberty has crisp hair and a clean coronet, the eagle's feathers are sharp, and the TWENTY DOLLARS spelling is clean and even. A cast copy looks soft, with mushy details and tiny bubbles in the fields. On a last-year branch-mint coin, those three checks are the beginning, not the end: certification is where the figure is settled.
Latest reported results for this coin
Checking for newly reported results…
Your 1879-O double eagle questions, answered
What is an 1879-O Liberty double eagle worth?
Our guide has not yet researched grade-by-grade figures for this date, so the grade table below shows — for every grade. As the last New Orleans double eagle, with only 2,325 struck, it is a scarce coin in any grade, and a professional grade is the only reliable way to value one.
Why were only 2,325 struck?
By 1879 the New Orleans Mint was winding down its gold coinage. The nation's double eagles were struck mainly at Philadelphia and San Francisco, and New Orleans struck the $20 only in small numbers in its final years of gold production.
What is a Type 3 double eagle?
Type 3 is the Liberty double eagle struck from 1877 to 1907. It carries the motto IN GOD WE TRUST and spells out the denomination as TWENTY DOLLARS on the reverse, where the earlier types read TWENTY D. The 1879-O is a Type 3.
Is the 1879-O the last New Orleans double eagle?
Yes. New Orleans struck its final double eagles in 1879 and never struck the $20 again. The mint continued striking silver coinage until 1909, but its gold coinage ended with the 1879 issues.
How do I check an 1879-O double eagle?
Weigh it at 33.436 grams and measure 34 millimetres, then examine the O mint mark below the eagle and the TWENTY DOLLARS spelling on the reverse. On a last-year branch-mint coin, certification from PCGS or NGC is strongly advised.
Check your 1879-O
An 1879-O is the last New Orleans $20, struck in a mintage of 2,325. Weigh it, find the O, and let a grader settle the rest. Run the date and mint mark through the free Coin Value Checker for an instant estimate, or get a Grade-or-Not verdict on whether your coin is worth certifying. The full gold guide is here: Gold Dollar Coin Values by Type and Date.
For learning only: this guide is educational, and the figures here are researched estimates, not a promise of what any single coin will bring. An 1879-O should be authenticated and graded by professionals before any decision is made.
This guide is for education — learn the coin first, and get a professional opinion before buying or selling.