1909-P Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
Key dateA low-mintage Philadelphia issue. The year also produced a documented overdate.
Mintage
- Business strikes
- 161,282
- Mint
- Philadelphia (no mintmark)
- Mintage rank
- 11 of 52
- Proofs struck
- 67
Rank 1 is the lowest business-strike mintage in the series. Mintage and survival diverge more sharply in this series than anywhere else on the site. Double eagles were held as reserves rather than spent, so large numbers never entered circulation at all, and Executive Order 6102 recalled gold coin in 1933. The Treasury melting that followed destroyed most of what it held, and the issues of the late 1920s and early 1930s were hit hardest because they had barely left the vaults. The 1927-D is the extreme case: 180,000 struck, and a handful known today. Read the mintage here as what was made, never as what is available.
Reading the figure
Among the 24 Philadelphia issues in the series it is the 6th smallest. Of the 2,988,707 struck across all mints in 1909, this issue accounts for 5%. San Francisco struck 17 times as many that year. The 1909 split ran San Francisco 2,774,925, Philadelphia 161,282 and Denver 52,500. The series median is 567,500, so fewer than half as many of these were struck as a typical date. Series-wide output fell that year: 2,988,707 against 5,463,059 in 1908.
Every sentence above is computed from the mintage table on this page, not asserted separately.
About this figure
Published tables differ by 67 coins on this figure, which is exactly the year's proof mintage. The 161,282 figure used here is supported by Wikipedia's table and by NGC; the lower figure appears in one other reference. The 1909/8 overdate is included in this total and was not reported separately.
Scarcity tier
Key date
Assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 is a key date, under 2,500,000 is a semi-key.
This is a reproducible label derived from the mintage column, not a market valuation and not a Coin Curator price opinion. The same thresholds apply to every series on this site. Several dates are far harder or far easier to obtain than their mintage implies; where that is true, it is stated above.
Documented varieties
1909/8 Overdate
A 1909 die punched over a 1908 one, with the 8 visible beneath the 9. Included in the year's reported mintage rather than counted separately.
Widely recognised varieties only. The VAM reference catalogs thousands of die marriages across these series; the absence of a variety here does not mean none is documented elsewhere.
Mintage tells you very little in this series. Mintage and survival diverge more sharply in this series than anywhere else on the site. Read the full note on the series page.
What to check before buying
Nothing about this date calls for a check beyond the ones that apply to any certified coin.
And for any certified coin
Verify the certification number on the grading service’s own lookup rather than from a photograph of the label, match the listing images to the certification record including grade and any variety attribution, look for cleaning, compare the mintmark against published photographs of the genuine issue, and read the return policy before buying. The grading guide covers each of these in full.
Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and publishes no price or population data. These are verification steps, not a valuation.
Verify a certification number
Look a 1909-Pcertification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.
Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.
Find a 1909-P for sale
Opens an eBay search for this exact date and mint. Coin Curator does not list inventory, hold stock, or quote prices; verify each listing, seller, and return policy directly.
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Common questions
How many 1909-P Saint-Gaudens double eagles were minted?
The Philadelphia Mint struck 161,282 1909-P Saint-Gaudens double eagles for circulation. That is the 11th lowest business-strike mintage of the 52 date and mintmark combinations in the series.
Is the 1909-P Saint-Gaudens double eagle a key date?
Coin Curator labels it a key date, assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 struck is a key date and under 2,500,000 is a semi-key. The same thresholds are used for every series on this site, so the tiers are comparable between them. That label describes production, not market value or how hard the coin is to find today. A low-mintage Philadelphia issue. The year also produced a documented overdate.
What varieties exist for the 1909-P Saint-Gaudens double eagle?
Widely recognised varieties for this issue include 1909/8 Overdate. A 1909 die punched over a 1908 one, with the 8 visible beneath the 9. Included in the year's reported mintage rather than counted separately. Variety attributions should appear on the certification label rather than only in a seller's description.
What should I check before buying a 1909-P Saint-Gaudens double eagle?
Verify the certification number on the grading service's own lookup page, match the listing photographs to the certification record, check for cleaning, and compare the mintmark shape and position against published photographs of the genuine issue.
Why do sources give different mintage figures for the 1909-P?
Published tables differ by 67 coins on this figure, which is exactly the year's proof mintage. The 161,282 figure used here is supported by Wikipedia's table and by NGC; the lower figure appears in one other reference. The 1909/8 overdate is included in this total and was not reported separately.
Related dates
Guides for this coin
All guides →Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle: A Collector’s Guide
The most beautiful US coin and one of the most collectible pre-1933 golds. The major types (Ultra High Relief, High Relief, No Motto, With Motto), the famous keys, and how to buy common dates well.
1 min readMarket ContextPre-1933 Gold Coin Collecting and Market Context
Research Saint-Gaudens, Liberty Head, and Indian Head gold by exact type, date, grade, surfaces, current metal value, and coin-specific evidence.
1 min readVintage GuideThe 1933 Double Eagle: A Provenance Lesson
The 1933 Double Eagle combines contested ownership, government litigation, exceptional provenance, and a documented 2021 auction record.
1 min readEducationWhat Makes a Coin a “Key Date”, and Why It Drives Value
Coins from the same series can differ sharply in availability and demand. Learn how date, mintmark, variety, grade, and surfaces shape key-date research.
1 min readMintage sources
Mintage figures are U.S. Mint production records, cross-checked against the published tables below on 2026-08-02. Where those tables disagree, the disagreement is disclosed on the affected page rather than resolved silently.
- CoinMintages.com, Saint-Gaudens double eagle mintages — Reports the 1907 relief types and the 1908 motto types separately, with proofs listed apart from business strikes.
- Wikipedia, "Saint-Gaudens double eagle" — Mintage table citing Yeoman and Bowers, and the source for the Ultra High Relief being an experimental piece rather than an issue.
- NGC and dealer references, 1909 and 1910-S — Consulted to break the two disagreements between the tables above.
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