American Eagle
The American Eagle gold coin is one of the most popular investment coins in the United States and around the world. First struck in 1986 by the United States Mint, it is known for its symbolic design: on the obverse, a striding Lady Liberty holding a torch and an olive branch — a motif taken from the 1907 $20 gold coin designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens; on the reverse, an eagle, symbol of the American nation: a family of eagles at their nest until 2021, and an eagle’s head in profile on coins struck since then.
The coin weighs 33.93 g in total, but it is not 100% pure: its fineness is 916.7‰ (22 karat), the rest being an alloy of copper and silver that makes it more resistant to wear. Of these 33.93 g, 31.10 g are pure gold — exactly one troy ounce.
The price of a gold coin follows the amount of pure gold it contains, not its total weight. Although the American Eagle is physically heavier and of lower fineness than other one-ounce coins, it too contains one troy ounce of fine gold: it is this amount of pure gold, identical from one coin to the next, that determines its price.
