Images courtesy of Byers Numismatic Corp.

Sometime in mid-2000, a small antique dealer discovered an incredible numismatic find in an old estate - the cancelled obverse die of an 1882 Double Eagle.  Subsequently, the die was brokered by a goldsmith/jeweler and sold to the Byers Numismatic Corp. of Lake Forest, California.

This discovery represents only the second surviving die used to strike actual $20 Gold pieces.  Fred Weinberg, PCGS authenticator for mint errors, numismatic author, scholar, and expert on the minting process, wrote a letter regarding this die. He elaborated on how “this die, possibly one of two known $20 Gold Liberty dies, is the only one available on the market at this time, and not displayed in a Museum.” He further stated, “my wish is that wherever this die ends up, it is made available for research and public viewing at some time.”  Click here to read the text of Mr. Weinberg's letter.

Doug Winter, numismatic author, scholar, and expert on rare United States gold coins, examined the die and in a letter emphasized, “it would be hard to imagine a more significant piece of numismatic history for the gold coin collector than this 1882 Double Eagle obverse die. I would have to place it very high on the ‘cool scale’ of numismatic items that I have viewed in quite some time."  Click here to read the text of Mr. Winter's letter.

Byers' first marketing effort was to place the die up for auction on eBay, the popular online auction service (Item #471957308) with an opening bid of $50,000 and a closing date of October 27, 2000.  No bids were received.