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Friday, July 10, 1998
CIRCLES OF GOLD
Rare, valuable $20 gold coins are put on display after being kept in storage for decades.
By Tanya Flanagan
Review-Journal
For more than two decades, 20,000 "double eagle" gold coins rested secretly in a downtown vault at the Wells Fargo Bank building on Carson Avenue.
The anonymity of these $20 gold pieces minted in 1907 and 1908 ended Thursday. Shortly after 11 a.m., a red cloth covering a glass display case inside the Wells Fargo tower on Howard Hughes Parkway was removed, and the shiny, neatly stacked coins designed by sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens were revealed.
"These coins are virtually unscratched," said David Hall with the North American Trading company based in Santa Ana, Calif.
The coins earned their nickname because a $5 coin is called a half eagle, a $10 gold coin is know as an eagle, so the $20 gold coins are double eagles.
Hall said that while $20 gold coins are not rare and that millions are circulating throughout Europe, this collection is special because these coins lack the "In God We Trust" inscription visible on most U.S. currency.
"The discovery of this hoard of 20,000 no-motto $20 gold coins is one of the most exciting finds in American history," said Greg Roberts, president of Spectrum Numismatics in Irvine, Calif., which purchased the coins for more than $15 million last year.
"Prior to this find there were approximately four of these coins reported to exist in what's known as mint state 67," he said. Mint state condition means without scratches or nicks.
Roberts purchased the collection from a private owner, who did not want to be identified.
The coins have not always been in Las Vegas. The earliest date noting their existence is 1917 when they are believed to have been first acquired by a private collector. The coins are believed to have been stored and untouched until 1972 when they were sorted, counted, resealed and placed in the downtown Las Vegas bank.
They were moved in 1996 to Wells Fargo's tower office and purchased last year.
The collection is of high quality according to the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation and the Professional Coin Grading Service, two of the country's top rare coin evaluators.
The coins were given serial numbers and 8,000 of them are available for sale through Hall's company, California Numismatic Investments in Inglewood, Don McAlvany's International Collectors Associates of Durango, Colo., Goldline International Inc. in Santa Monica, Calif., and Bowers and Merena in Wolfeboro, N.H.
Gold $20 pieces were first coined in 1849, but in 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned Saint Gaudens to redesign the images that adorned both sides of the coin. From several designs, Roosevelt selected an image of Lady Liberty walking for one side of the coin and a flying bald eagle for the other.
Historians claim the president was very religious and disagreed with having a reference to God on money that could be used for illegal purposes. Roosevelt had the motto "In God We Trust" omitted from coins made in 1907. That action garnered opposition from the public, and in the latter half of 1908, coins again included the motto.
Hall, Roberts and Wells Fargo officials gathered Thursday at the tower near Paradise Road to introduce the collection that will be on display through the end of the year.
The Lied Discovery Children's Museum, Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada and the Clark County Public Education Foundation each were given a coin by Wells Fargo and Spectrum Numismatics. The organizations are charities that the bank supports year-round.
The coins are valued at roughly $3,000 each. Each organization said it may auction its coin at upcoming fund-raiser events.
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Rare $20 gold coins lie in the display case inside the Wells Fargo Bank tower on Howard Hughes Parkway. They were first displayed Thursday.
Photo by Gary Thompson.
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