1876-CC Double Eagle (1876-CC $20) NGC MS60. Type 2 Double Eagle. Ample amounts of mint luster are seen on the devices of this attractive mint state 1876-CC Double Eagle. A couple of marks on Libertys face, neck, and the obverse field as well as slight abrasion on both sides keep this coin from a higher mint state grade. The strike is strong on the reverse and somewhat weaker on the obverse center. James B. Longacre designed the double eagle. It was made in response to the vast quantity of gold that came into the Mint from California beginning in the late 1840s. The California Gold Rush led to a need for a standard form of exchange. The double eagle was the governments response. They also felt that the double eagle would be useful for large commercial transactions and that it would facilitate foreign trade.

The design shows a profile of Liberty facing left wearing coronet inscribed LIBERTY. Her hair is tightly tied in the back with loose curls hanging down her neck to the end of the truncation. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with elaborate ribbons on both sides of the shield extending from the top corner down to the eagles tail feathers. The ribbons are inscribed, on the left E PLURIBUS and UNUM on the right. The ribbons were added to the design to symbolize the denomination since this was the first double eagle coin. There is an oval of thirteen stars above the eagles head into which the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was inserted creating the Type 2 design. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is in an arc above the eagle, and the denomination TWENTY D. is below. The mint mark is between the tail feathers and the denomination.

The Type 2 double eagle design ended in 1876. The next year the denomination was changed from TWENTY D. to TWENTY DOLLARS.