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A dynamic U.S. president. An incomparably gifted sculptor.
One stunningly inspired design.
These were the key elements that came together perfectly
a century ago to bring forth a gold coin lauded by many ever
since as the single most magnificent monetary artwork ever
struck by the United States Mint.
That coin – the 1907 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle, or $20 gold piece – is so
rare and valuable that few can attain or afford it today. But thanks to a
one-year-only program recently launched by the Mint, the coin is now available –
and far more affordable – in a dazzling new version containing an ounce of pure
gold.
The new coin – itself a legal-tender U.S. Mint issue – serves as both a tribute
to the exquisite original and a wonderful collectible in its own right. In
addition, many feel its release will spur sales for the “other” Saint-Gaudens
designed gold coins, including his $10 Indian.
The Dynamic U.S. President: Theodore Roosevelt
The president who
fostered the original coin’s creation was Theodore Roosevelt, a man of action
whose boundless curiosity drove him to immerse himself in aspects of the
nation’s life ignored by most other U.S. chief executives – aspects including
America's everyday coinage.
Roosevelt had a vision of totally updated and upgraded U.S. coins patterned
after classic antecedents from ancient Greece. He spoke of this ambitious plan
mischievously as his “pet crime” – but it’s clear that he viewed it as more than
a mere diversion. He was strongly committed to bringing the plan to fruition,
and toward that end he recruited an eminently qualified “co-conspirator” to help
him achieve his goal.
Theodore Roosevelt Engages
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Roosevelt’s partner in “crime” was Augustus Saint-
Gaudens, a genius who bestrode the world of American art at the turn of the 20th
century. The two men met in 1905, when Roosevelt chose Saint-Gaudens to design
an inaugural medal for his second term as president.
Roosevelt was delighted with the medal, and the pair later discussed their mutual admiration
for the high-relief coins of ancient Greece. The president then asked
Saint-Gaudens to craft a complete series of U.S. coin designs
based on those classical models, and the artist readily agreed.
The Irish-born Saint-Gaudens, who was brought to the U.S. as an infant by his
parents, was renowned at the time as America’s foremost sculptor, and his
best-known works were massive bronze sculptures. Among his most acclaimed
creations were a lifelike statue of Admiral David Farragut, a Civil War naval
hero, which still stands today in New York City’s Madison Square, and a Boston
Commons monument to Col. Robert Gould Shaw and his Massachusetts 54th Colored
Regiment, whose story was told in the motion picture “Glory.”
Saint-Gaudens Accepts Roosevelt’s Challenge
The
red-headed sculptor had a temper just as fiery as his hair and bushy beard, but
he also possessed a delicate touch that infused his artistic subjects with
remarkably lifelike features. This talent – honed by years of study in Paris –
showed to maximum advantage in smaller works of art such as coins and medals.
“Saint-Gaudens was one of the first American sculptors to work in the Beaux Arts
style,” art historian Thayer Tolles has written. “He’s also one of the first to
have a real mastery of the human form.”
By 1905, when he accepted “Teddy” Roosevelt’s challenge, Saint-Gaudens was 56
and his health was in decline. His superb artistic powers had not waned, though,
and he relished the opportunity to help the president realize his dream. At the
outset, Saint-Gaudens’ intention was to redesign U.S. coinage from top to bottom
– or perhaps from bottom to top, for he sketched his first designs with the
thought that they were would be suitable for the cent. At the time, that coin
had carried the Indian Head design for nearly half a century, and the Lincoln
cent was still several years away.
But as luck and fate would have it, those first designs ended up not on the
lowest-denomination U.S. coin but on the two with the highest face value: the
double eagle and eagle ($10 gold piece). Then, in August 1907, Saint- Gaudens
died – before production of either coin began for circulation. Other outstanding
artists would complete the redesign of U.S. coinage during and after Roosevelt’s
time in office. But Saint-Gaudens’ two gold coins established a standard of
excellence that permeated the process and set the bar so high that many believe
no other U.S. coin minted before or since has ever surpassed it.
Saint-Gaudens Masterful Design
Creates A Spectacular American Classic
In Saint-Gaudens’ design, the double eagle’s obverse, or “heads” side, shows an
allegorical female figure – meant to represent Liberty – striding triumphantly
forward, grasping the torch of freedom in her right hand and an olive branch in
her left. Sunbeams bathe her from behind and the U.S. Capitol Building appears
at the lower left, partially obscured by Liberty’s flowing gown. The reverse
depicts a majestic eagle in flight, bathed in rays shooting upward from a sun
below it.
Saint-Gaudens
employed several subtle but effective devices to heighten the coin’s clean,
uncluttered look and enhance its symbolic appeal. One was the placement of E
PLURIBUS UNUM, a required coinage inscription, along the edge to open more space
for the powerful visual images on one of the primary surfaces. Another was the
use of 46 stars encircling Miss Liberty to denote the 46 states that made up the
Union at the time (two more stars were added in 1912, when New Mexico and
Arizona attained statehood, completing the nation’s “Lower 48”). A third deft
touch was the choice of Roman numerals for the date, reinforcing the conscious
link with ancient coinage.
At Roosevelt’s insistence, the Mint struck a handful of breathtaking proof
specimens of the new double eagle with extremely high – or “ultra-high” – relief
prior to beginning regular production of the coin. Fewer than two-dozen are
thought to survive, including a unique piece with a plain edge.
1907 Ultra-High Relief
Design Ahead Of Its Time
These
first strikes were experimental pieces, clearly impractical for regular
production, but Roosevelt and Saint- Gaudens did envision issuance of
business strike coins with high relief. The Mint’s chief engraver, Charles E.
Barber, firmly opposed this plan and resisted its implementation until late
November 1907, when Roosevelt gave him a mandate he couldn’t ignore: “Begin the
new issue even if it takes you all day to strike one piece!”
Barber dared not defy the president, and the earliest production strikes were
made with high relief – each coin receiving five blows from the Mint’s hydraulic
press. Some of the coins had a wire rim, others a flat one, and all carried the
date in Roman numerals. But after just 11,250 High Relief Double Eagles had been
produced, the slow pace and high cost forced the Mint to substitute new dies
with lower relief. The series continued until 1933, but no further coins were
made with high relief. The “dumbing down” extended even to the date: The Mint
replaced Saint-Gaudens’ Roman numerals with Arabic dates on all the
reduced relief double eagles.
Even in lower relief, the Saint-Gaudens double eagle remains a coin of singular
grace and beauty – possessing, in Breen’s words, “the finest American coin
design ever to reach circulation.” Without any question, however, the coin was
never more regal than in Ultra High Relief. And now, that incomparable coin –
worth more than a million dollars today in its original version – can be
purchased in a government-issue reincarnation for just a small fraction of that
sum.
U.S. Mint Recreates Saint-Gaudens Ultra High Relief
Double Eagle As The Artist Originally Conceived
Numismatists view the original Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle design as the pinnacle
of U.S. coinage art, and it is this template the U.S. Mint is using in creating
the 2009 Ultra High Relief Saint-Gaudens. Their edges are roughly twice as thick
as those on the standard business strikes eventually produced for circulation.
Their fields, or background areas, are unusually concave, connecting with the
edges directly, without a border, and giving them an almost knife-like look.
Above all, their design details are incredibly razor-sharp – attesting to the
fact that each received nine blows from the coins’ brand-new dies under a
massive pressure of 172 tons.
In assessing the Ultra High Relief Double Eagles, numismatic scholar Walter
Breen declared that “only these faithfully represent Saint-Gaudens’ conception,
cherished as the stunning climax of American coin design.
Recreating Saint-Gaudens’ Vision
The original version came in two sizes, both of which are classified by
collectors as patterns, or experimental pieces. The first was 34 millimeters in
diameter, the same as regular double eagles. The second was thicker but just 27
millimeters wide, and was made by placing two $10 gold-coin blanks atop one
another in the coining press, where they were fused together by the heat. This is
the size now being produced. Only about 19 specimens of the first type are known
to survive today, and only two or three of the second.
The coin now being produced by the Mint looks very much like the original
double-thick 27-millimeter Ultra High Relief trial strike and has the same
thickness of 4 millimeters – twice as thick as any other U.S. 1-ounce gold coin.
There are subtle differences, though.
• One involves weight and fineness. The new coin contains 1 full ounce of
24-karat gold; the original had just under an ounce – .9675 ounce, to be exact –
and its gold was alloyed with copper, giving it a fineness of 90 percent.
• The date is an easier way to tell the difference: It’s MMIX (2009) on the new
coin, MCMVII (1907) on the original.
• The new edition has 50 stars encircling Liberty, rather than 46, reflecting
not only the two new states of 1912 but also Alaska and Hawaii.
• The new coins are being produced on business-strike planchets; the originals
were proofs.
• Whereas the 1907 pattern lacked the inscription IN GOD WE TRUST, the new coin
carries this motto at the base of the sun’s rays on the reverse – the same
position it occupied on Saint- Gaudens double eagles from 1908 through 1933.
• Like the lettered-edge originals, the new coin has the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM
along the edge, with stars between all the letters. A small border has been
added to provide a more consistent edge.
THE OTHER SAINT-GAUDENS
GOLD COIN
The
magnificent Saint-Gaudens double eagle – especially in Ultra High Relief – is a
truly spectacular coin. But, people tend to forget that it wasn’t the only gold
piece designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The multi-talented genius also created
the elegant $10 Indian Head eagle, a coin that’s often mentioned in the same
breath as its larger, more glamorous companion and similarly regarded as one of
the most majestic ever made by the U.S. Mint.
The $10 Indian Head made its debut in 1907, the same year as the stunning $20
Double Eagle. Like the Double Eagle, its obverse (or “heads” side) features a
likeness of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. But while the larger coin shows
a full-length figure striding vigorously forward, the $10 gold piece bears a
left-facing profile portrait of her head. The coin’s most striking feature,
perhaps, is the elaborate Indian headdress that adorns the lovely goddess,
transforming her into a uniquely American personification of Liberty.
Saint-Gaudens used this device at the suggestion of President Theodore
Roosevelt, who recruited him to redesign U.S. coinage along classical Greek
lines. It might have looked jarring – even foolish – in the hands of a lesser
artist, but Saint-Gaudens made it memorably evocative.
Thirteen stars are arrayed above the head of Nike/Liberty, representing the 13
original colonies, and the edge bears 46 raised stars – one for each state in
the Union at the time. (As on the double eagle, two more stars were added
starting in 1912, when New Mexico and Arizona gained statehood.)
The birth of Saint-Gaudens’ $10 coin didn’t give rise to anything as dramatic as
the Ultra High Relief Double Eagle. There were, however, several interesting
varieties in 1907, the first year of issue. The Philadelphia Mint struck 500
pieces with a sharply defined “wire” rim before switching to a rounded rim or
rolled edge. It then made 20,000 rounded-rim examples with periods before and
after the words E PLURIBUS UNUM – but melted all but 42 of these. Thereafter,
regular production went forward without the periods.
The reverse portrays an eagle in
repose – a less dynamic likeness
than the double eagle’s monarch of
the skies in full flight, but a quietly
powerful image nonetheless.
Production
began without the motto IN GOD WE TRUST – in yet another instance of “Teddy”
Roosevelt’s intervention. Roosevelt didn’t object to honoring the Almighty, but
felt it was demeaning to God to do so on a coin. The omission was noted by the
public and members of Congress partway through the second year of production,
and legislation mandating addition of the words was hastily passed. The
inscription appears on the reverse of all subsequent 1908 eagles and from then
through the end of the series in 1933.
Many numismatic observers expect that the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double
Eagle will trigger new demand for all High Relief Double Eagles as well as the $10
Indian, which could result in higher prices. To learn which of Saint-Gaudens coins
are available contact your account representative today toll free at
866.261.9781.
The Mint’s Office of Public Affairs provided this information:
“The
price will be determined based on production, packaging and other related costs,
as well as the price of gold. The 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle gold coins
will be struck to consumer demand, subject to gold planchet availability.”
The Mint has set no limit on the number of coins it
might make, but has stipulated that they will be sold only
in 2009, except for any that remain in its inventory at the
end of the year. Legislation is pending that would
authorize the production of palladium coins featuring the
same design in 2010. If the legislation passes, it would be
another historic collectible coin collectors would desire.
“This gold
Ultra High Relief coin, evoking Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ 1907 double eagle with
Liberty striding forward, is one of the world’s most beautiful coins,” Mint
Director Moy told guests and the media at the first-strike ceremonies.
“The United States Mint is proud to render the vision of President Theodore
Roosevelt and Augustus Saint-Gaudens in a way that honors our past and raises
the bar for the future. One hundred years from now, I believe the 2009 Ultra
High Relief Double Eagle Gold Coin could be remembered as the birth of the
greatest American century in coin-making history.”
"Many numismatic watchers expect the sale of the
2009 Ultra High Relief Saint-Gaudens to spur ancillary interest
in the other Saint-Gaudens designed coin, the $10 Indian Head."
Call Toll Free Today 866.261.9781 for availability and current pricing.
