American Eagle Gold Bullion
The American Gold Eagle is a gold bullion coin authorized for circulation in the Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985. The coins are 22 karat gold and come in the denominations of $5, $10, $25, and $50, though their actual market value is determined by the present-day price of gold, which, while fluctuating, in most cases renders the coin more valuable as bullion. With these coins, the US Mint revived the standing Liberty design first used on the Saint-Gaudens double eagle minted from 1907 to 1933. However, the Mint employs a unique reverse design, created by sculptor Miley Busiek, showing a male eagle retrieving an olive branch for a female eagle resting in a nest.
The first American Eagle coin was issued in 1986. From 1986 to 1991, the date on the coin was printed using Roman numerals, as had been done on the first several issues of the Saint-Gaudens double eagle. And as with the double eagles, the practice was revised shortly afterwards so that Arabic numbers were used.