The double eagles from the San Francisco Mint which were produced during the 1890s tend to be readily available. The 1890-S appears to be one of the hardest to find but it is still easy to locate when compared to the Philadelphia and Carson City coins of this year.

Expert’s Corner: 1890-S Double Eagle

Most advanced Type Three collectors aren’t interested in 1890-S double eagles which grade lower than MS62. I appreciate this date in MS63 and in lustrous MS64.

The quality of strike for the 1890-S double eagle is better than average. The hair of Liberty is mostly well formed with the exception of some of the strands at the top of the head. The stars on the obverse are sharp but may not be completely defined on the radials. The reverse is very sharp with even fine details seen clearly on the feathers of the eagle. The surfaces are typically very abraded but less so than on many San Francisco double eagles from the previous decade. There are some fairly clean examples available with only minor abrasions seen in the fields. The luster is excellent. It tends to be frosty in texture with a few showing a semi-proof-like reflectiveness in the fields. The coloration on original, uncleaned examples is above average when compared to most issues from this mint. The collector should be able to find a nice 1890-S double eagle without much difficulty.