Saint-Gaudens $20 Double Eagle Gold 1907-1933

SAINT GAUDENS TWENTY DOLLARS OR

DOUBLE EAGLE (1907-1933)

1907 Ultra-High Relief Saint Gaudens Double Eagle

"IN GOD WE TRUST" OMITTED FROM REVERSE (1907-1908)

1907 Includes Ultra-High Reliefs, High Reliefs, and Arabic Numeral varieties

1908

1908-D

1912 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle

"IN GOD WE TRUST" ADDED TO REVERSE (1908-1933)

1908

1908-D

1908-S This date is as scarce as the low mintage suggests.

1909 Look for the 1909/8 over date.

1909-D

1909-S

1910

1910-D

1910-S

1911

1911-D

1911-S

1912

1913

1913-D

1913-S

1914

1914-D

1914-S

1915

1915-S

1916-S

1920

1920-S Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1921 Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1922

1922-S

1923

1923-D

1924

1924-D

1924-S

1925

1925-D

1925-S

1926

1926-D This date is tough to find.

1926-S

1927

1927-D An extreme rarity.

1927-S Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1928 Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1929 Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1930-S Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1931 Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1931-D Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1932 Very rare - most appear to have been melted.

1933 None were placed into circulation and virtually the entire mintage was melted. Only one example outside of government hands is legal to own.

Saint-Gaudens Low-Relief Double Eagles 1907-33

His brilliance and renown brought him to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, and the two men developed a warm relationship that was at once both personal and professional. In 1905, Saint- Gaudens designed a handsome inaugural medal for the president. Pleased and impressed, Roosevelt then invited him to fashion prospective new designs for the two largest U.S. gold coins, the double eagle and eagle, and also for a one-cent piece (which never reached production). Saint-Gaudens welcomed the challenge and plunged into the project with all his prodigious energy and skill.

Both men admired the high-relief coinage of ancient Greece, and both agreed that U.S. gold coins patterned after that model would be a spectacular achievement. They would also stand in stark contrast to the two undistinguished-looking coins that were being replaced, the Liberty double eagle and the Coronet eagle, both of which had their roots in the first half of the 19th century.

Although his health was deteriorating as the project went along, Saint-Gaudens created superb designs for both gold coins. The double eagle, especially, is a masterpiece. Its obverse features a full-length portrait of Liberty with a torch in her right hand and an olive branch in her left. She is shown in full stride with rays of sunlight behind her and the U.S. Capitol Building to the left of her flowing gown. Encircling her are 46 stars-one for each state in the Union at that time. The coin's reverse depicts a breathtaking eagle in flight, with the sun below extending its rays upward. Above the eagle, in two semicircular tiers, are the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and TWENTY DOLLARS. High points to check for wear are Liberty's breast and knee and the eagle's wing.

Saint-Gaudens placed another required motto, E PLURIBUS UNUM, along the edge of the coin, thus reducing the clutter on the obverse and reverse and reinforcing their clean, open look. He and Roosevelt conspired to omit IN GOD WE TRUST from the first of the new double eagles, but God-fearing members of Congress noticed this and mandated addition of this motto on later issues, starting near the end of 1908. On pieces produced thereafter, it appears above the sun on the reverse.

Fortunately, the beauty of the coin remains dazzling, even in lower relief. And thankfully, Saint-Gaudens' original art was preserved in its pristine beauty through the minting of small numbers of extremely high-relief patterns and high-relief business strikes in 1907-or rather MCMVII, for the date was shown on these coins in Roman numerals.

The first production pieces were made with high relief. But after striking just 11,250, Mint officials substituted new dies with the modified, lower relief, and these remained in use through the end of the series. As if to underscore the shift from the classical to the commercial, the Mint used Arabic numbers in dating all reduced-relief double eagles.

"Saints" were minted each year from 1907 through 1916. A three-year hiatus followed, after which the coins were struck yearly from 1920 through 1933. The branch mints in Denver and San Francisco augmented the main Philadelphia Mint production, but not in every year. Mint marks appear above the date the designer's initials (ASG) below.

From 1929 onward, newly minted examples were held almost entirely as part of the nation's gold reserves, with few being released into circulation. Almost all of these were melted (along with many earlier double eagles) following the gold recall order signed in 1933 by another President Roosevelt-Theodore's cousin, Franklin. As a result, double eagles dated 1929 through 1932 are exceedingly rare today. The Mint produced nearly half a million pieces dated 1933, but the government maintains that these were never released, and thus it is illegal to own them. That was the end of regular-issue U. S. gold coinage.

Saint-Gaudens High Relief Double Eagle 1907

What's the most beautiful U.S. coin ever made? Whenever that question arises, one of the first and most frequent answers is sure to be the Saint-Gaudens double eagle, or twenty-dollar gold piece. And those who know the subject well are almost certain to specify the "Saint" with high relief.

In 1905, Roosevelt personally prevailed upon Saint-Gaudens to design his official inaugural medal, which proved to be exceptionally handsome. In a subsequent conversation at a Washington dinner party, they discussed their mutual admiration for the high- relief coins of ancient Greece, and the president urged the artist to create a series of U.S. coin designs based on those classic models. With customary vigor, Roosevelt proclaimed this plan to be his "pet crime."

Saint-Gaudens accepted the challenge eagerly and began preparing dramatic new designs to replace the long-running Liberty double eagle and Coronet eagle, the two largest U.S. gold coins, both of which had carried the same basic portraits for more than half a century. He also fashioned a new one-cent design. The cent never reached production, but the gold coins emerged as masterworks of numismatic art.

The double eagle's obverse features a full-length portrait of Liberty grasping a torch in her right hand and an olive branch in her left. She is shown in full stride with rays of sunlight behind her, the word LIBERTY above her and the U. S. Capitol Building to the left of her flowing gown. Encircling her are 46 stars-one for each state in the Union at that time. The designer's monogram (ASG) appears below the date. The coin's reverse depicts a breathtaking eagle in flight-perhaps the most spectacular likeness of the nation's official emblem ever to grace a U. S. coin or medal. Below this magnificent bird is the sun with its rays extending upward; above it, in two semicircular tiers, are the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and TWENTY DOLLARS. High points to check for wear are Liberty's breast and knee and the eagle's wing.

The artist reinforced the clean, uncluttered look of the coin by placing one other required motto, E PLURIBUS UNUM, along the edge, thereby reducing the obverse and reverse verbiage. The normal clutter was further reduced when Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens conspired to omit the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on the first of the new double eagles. Roosevelt, a devout man, believed using the name of God on our currency was blasphemy, for there was no way of knowing for what unworthy purpose it might be used. He thought the name of God belonged in houses of worship, not in saloons, casinos and bordellos. But God-fearing members of Congress with a different viewpoint soon noticed this and mandated addition of the motto too later issues.

The earliest production strikes were indeed made with high relief; according to Breen, they received five blows apiece from the Mint's hydraulic press. In addition to the business strikes, there also are "probably at least eight or nine proofs," he reported, with these having received six or seven blows apiece. Some production strikes had a wire rim, others a flat one, and all displayed the date in Roman numerals. But after turning out just 11,250 pieces, Mint technicians substituted new dies with modified, lower relief. Barber's objections based on practicality had prevailed. In yet another concession to commercial expediency and public unfamiliarity, the Mint replaced the Roman numerals with Arabic ones on all further coinage.

The high-relief edition of Saint-Gaudens' double eagle became an instant collectible, pieces bringing as much as $30 within weeks of their issue. Philadelphia coin dealer Henry Chapman seems to have been the principal supplier to numismatists, as he was with so many desirable products of the Philadelphia Mint.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 34 millimeters Weight: 33.436 grams Composition: .900 gold, .100 copper Edge: Lettered E PLURIBUS UNUM Net Weight: .96750 ounce pure gold

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Akers, David W., A Handbook of 20th-Century United States Gold Coins 1907-1933,Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1988. Bowers, Q. David, United States Gold Coins, An Illustrated History, Bowers and Ruddy, Los Angeles, 1982. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Dryfhout, John H., The Works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, University Press of New England, Hanover, NH, 1982. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.