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Gold coin guide

Gold Double Eagle $20 — ping test & specs

The Saint-Gaudens $20 Double Eagle (1907–1933) is a classic 90% gold US coin holding just under one ounce of gold. Its copper alloy and larger 34 mm size shape its ring.

Opens the free tester with this coin preselected — audio never leaves your device.

Official specifications

Weight33.436 g
Diameter34 mm
Thickness2.41 mm
Composition.900 gold (90%)

Source: United States Mint. Coin Pinger checks measured weight and diameter against these values.

Expected resonance range

Good confidence*
ModeExpected ringRecommended variance
c0d23.48–4.39 kHz±11.5%
c0d38.06–10.08 kHz±11.1%
c0d414.04–17.54 kHz±11.1%

A genuine Gold Double Eagle $20 rings within these ranges at its c0d2/c0d3/c0d4 vibration modes, fixed by its size and metal. The recommended variance is how far a genuine specimen's ring can sit from each center — built up in quadrature from real manufacturing tolerance and temperature (under 1%), phone-mic capture reproducibility (≈4%), an extra allowance on the fundamental for minting-asymmetry splitting, and a per-metal model-uncertainty term (largest for .9999 gold, whose modulus is least certain). This coin's band is widened further because circulated 90%-silver classics lose mass and edge crispness with wear, spreading their ring. The higher modes also carry a small thick-plate centre correction, since a real coin is not infinitely thin. The good-confidence tag reflects how well-established this metal's constants are: Computed from 22k-gold alloy constants, which are slightly less certain than silver; the band is set accordingly. These are guidance bands, not exact values — see the methodology for the exact formula, or calibrate your own coin in the app for a specimen-exact reference and tighten each peak per coin.

* These are computed guidance ranges. Certain your Gold Double Eagle $20 is genuine but it won't match? Send us its ring — we'll dig in and improve the reference.

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How to ping test a Gold Double Eagle $20

  1. Hold — grip the coin by its center (a nodal point) in a coin ping-test holder so the rim rings freely; a fingertip at the center is a last resort.
  2. Tap — strike the edge with a striker near the microphone.
  3. Read the verdict — MATCH or NO MATCH against the peaks above, plus weight and size checks.

Gold Double Eagle $20 — frequently asked

How much does a Gold Double Eagle $20 weigh?

The official specification is 33.436 g in .900 gold (90%) (source: United States Mint). Coin Pinger's weight check allows ±0.3 g by default. Circulated specimens lose a little mass to wear, so weigh toward the low side of that window.

What size is a Gold Double Eagle $20?

34 mm in diameter and 2.41 mm thick at the rim, per United States Mint. Note the average disc thickness is less than the rim caliper reading — the raised rim and relief concentrate metal at the edge.

What frequency does a genuine Gold Double Eagle $20 ring at?

Its fundamental (c0d2) vibration mode is computed to ring in the 3.48–4.39 kHz range, with higher modes near 8.06–10.08 kHz and 14.04–17.54 kHz. These are first-principles physics computations from the coin's published mass, diameter, and metal — not measurements of sample coins.

Why does my genuine Gold Double Eagle $20 ring slightly off the listed frequencies?

Wear is the biggest factor for the Gold Double Eagle $20: circulated 90%-silver classics lose mass and edge crispness, which spreads the ring across specimens. On top of that, phone-mic capture moves a genuine peak a few percent tap-to-tap (strike point, how you hold it, the mic itself). That's why this reference band is wider than a modern bullion coin's.

Does ping testing damage a Gold Double Eagle $20?

No — the test needs only a light tap on the edge with a non-marring striker (a wooden pencil or plastic stylus works well), far gentler than normal handling. Hold the coin at its center so the rim can ring freely.

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The physics of the Gold Double Eagle $20 ping

Those 3 peaks aren't random. When you strike the coin it flexes as a free disc in fixed patterns called vibration modes — 0 nodal circles with 2, 3 and 4 nodal diameters, written c0d2 / c0d3 / c0d4. Each pattern rings at one frequency.

Where those frequencies land is set by the coin's geometry and metal. For a thin disc, frequency ∝ (thickness ÷ diameter²) × √(stiffness ÷ density). This Gold Double Eagle $20 spreads 33.436 g of .900 gold (90%) across 34 mm — an effective disc thickness of about 2.1 mm once the raised rim and relief are averaged out — which puts its fundamental (c0d2) near 3935 Hz.

An ideal thin disc's modes sit at fixed, geometry-only ratios: 1 : 2.33 : 4.11. A real coin isn't infinitely thin — shear in the metal drags the higher modes slightly below the ideal — so this coin's computed reference lands at 1 : 2.30 : 4.01. Spacing near those ratios is the fingerprint of a struck disc, and Coin Pinger rejects taps that don't fit it (keys, glass, a coin lying on a hard surface).

And it's why a fake can't hide: change the metal and √(E/ρ) changes, so every mode moves. Struck in tungsten (the classic gold-fake metal) instead, the ring would land far higher and brighter — its c0d2 would land near ≈8550 Hz instead of 3935 Hz. Density can fool a scale; the ring can't be faked without the right metal.

We publish this as a Good confidence reference. Computed from 22k-gold alloy constants, which are slightly less certain than silver; the band is set accordingly.

Free-plate modes per A. W. Leissa, Vibration of Plates, NASA SP-160 (1969, public domain). See how we measure them →