Rarer even than a limited mintage of 106,500 pieces might imply, the 1931-D is one of the key issues to completion of a Saint-Gaudens double eagle set. As with many gold issues from the 1920s and 1930s, the 1931-D saw the widespread destruction of undistributed examples in the years following President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's gold recall of 1933. So elusive are survivors, in fact, that David W. Akers (A Handbook of 20th Century United States Gold Coins: 1907-1933, 2008 revision) speaks of a small cache of approximately 15 to 20 pieces that entered the numismatic market in the early 1980s as a "hoard." With more than 150 coins believed extant in all grades, the 1931-D is just as rare as the 1920-S in an absolute sense. There are more Mint State coins known for the 1931-D, to be sure, but nowhere near enough to satisfy demand from today's quality conscious gold specialists.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the Summer 2022 Global Showcase Auction, where it realized $180,000.