Saint Gaudens Double Eagle

The Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle is regarded by many as the most beautiful coin minted, anywhere, at any time.

Specifications

 * Designer: Augustus Saint-Gaudens
 * Obverse Design:
 * Reverse Design:
 * Edge Variety #1: Ultra-high relief
 * Edge Variety #2: High relief, Roman numerals, Knife rim
 * Edge Variety #3: High relief, Roman numerals, flat rim
 * Edge Variety #4: Arabic numerals
 * Weight: ±33.4 grams
 * Diameter: ±34 millimeters
 * Composition:  Gold (90%), Other (10%)
 * Dates Minted: 1907-1933

Background
According to President Theodore Roosevelt, the coinage of the United States was “artistically of atrocious hideousness!” So he did something about it. In 1905, President Roosevelt commissioned friend and world-renowned sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to redesign our nation’s coins. Augustus died in 1907, long before he got any chance to get his hands on the cent, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar and dollar. But he did re-design two of our nation’s gold coins: the $10 eagle gold coin and the $20 double-eagle gold coin. Both designs turned out to be doozies, especially the $20 gold piece. In fact, by almost unanimous acclaim, the Saint-Gaudents $20 double-eagle of 1907-33 is considered to be our nation’s most beautiful, most magnificent coin! What’s more, this coin is sandwiched between the presidencies of two famous Roosevelts!

The obverse featured a full-frontal view of a billowy-draped Liberty standing boldly with one foot set on a rock. Her hair blowing dramatically in the wind, she holds a torch in one hand, an olive branch in the other. Behind her the rays of the sun stream forth. The edge of the obverse is adorned with tiny stars. Likewise, the eagle on the reverse flies across the majestic rays of the sun.

What President Roosevelt wanted in U.S. coinage, was that classic ancient Greek look: coins with super bold relief. That’s exactly what he got with the Saint Gauden’s $20 gold piece. Each coin had to be struck not once, but SEVERAL times to bring out the boldness of the incredible sculpted design that adorned the face of the coin. Or at least that’s how it was in the first year of issue, 1907. The relief was lowered, but still bold, from late 1907 through 1933. But another innovation of this unique gold coin, was the date: initially it was struck in Roman numerals (MCMVII) instead of the expected “1907".

But what initially caused a public uproar was the lack of “In God We Trust” anywhere on the coin. For that, we have President Roosevelt to blame. It was his belief, actually, that such a motto constituted, an “irreverence that comes dangerously close to sacrilege.” The law of the land and the American public didn’t agree. Starting in 1908, “In God We Trust” was added to the coin’s reverse, just above the sun.

Collecting
It’s a no-brainer that this coin is a must-have for the advanced gold coin collector. It’s big. It’s gold. It’s old (almost 100 years old now) and it represents the pinnacle of U.S. coinage art. And as if its’ classic design and precious metal content weren’t enough, the Saint-Gaudens $20 gold piece series contains one of the Top 3 celebrated U.S. coin rarities, and perhaps the World’s Most Valuable Coin: the 1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle.

1933 Saint-Gaudens Gold Double Eagle
What happened was this: the U.S. Mint was already in the process of striking 1933 $20 gold pieces– in fact, some 445,000 were struck! But the Great Depression intervened. In 1933, in an effort to stabilize the U.S. economy, President FRANKLIN (not Theodore) Roosevelt, took the nation off the gold standard.. No more gold coins would be issued for circulation. In fact, if you OWNED any gold coins, you had to turn them in (imagine that kind of law today)! Ok, verifiably collectible gold coins were the exception.

In short, President Roosevelt ordered all the 1933 $20 gold coins melted. However, two pieces were saved from the melting pot to be given over to the Smithsonian Numismatic collection. BUT.. Over the next 20 years, the Secret Service actually confiscated eight MORE 1933 Saint-Gaudens double-eagles! It seems a few more escaped the melting pot than were allowed by law!

In the end, the Secret Service confiscated all the at-large 1933 double eagles except one– one that had gotten into the collection of Egyptian King Farouk. He eventually sold it to a private collector, and for a while, a battle raged between this private collector and the U.S. government. Finally a compromise was reached– the U.S. government and this collector would split the profits of an auction for the coin. In 2002, this coin hammered down at $6.6 million. It is the only known piece in existence, but no one knows if another is still floating around out there– or if the government will seize IT if found.

Grading
As for the “common” Saint-Gaudens double eagles, they retail around $835 in Very Fine condition. But these coins did not circulate much– they were FAR more apt to be saved or stored as bullion. In fact, just look at the tiny price increments for higher-grade common date pieces: $845 for Extra Fine examples, $850 for About Uncirculated examples, $870 for Mint-State-60 examples.

The first type struck, the 1907 bold-relief with Roman numerals in the date, retails $7,000-$7,250 in Very Fine, $10,000-$10,500 in Extra Fine. These high prices are understandable, given that this was a short-lived early first-striking, and a unique one at that. Other rare dates in the series are the 1920-S (retails $7,500 in Very Fine), 1921 (retails $12,000 in Very Fine), 1927-D (retails $100,000 in Very Fine), and all Depression-dates/mintmarks of 1929-32 (these average $6,000-$8,000 in Very Fine).

The Saint-Gaudens double-eagle will cost you some money. But if any U.S. coin type gives you your money’s worth in beauty, precious metal content AND history, it’s THIS coin.

Mints

 * Philadelphia Mint (No mintmark)
 * Denver Mint (D mintmark)
 * San Francisco Mint (S mintmark)