Considered by many to be the most beautiful United States coin ever produced, the Saint-Gaudens double eagle was plagued by controversy, the death of the designer and its ultimate wholesale destruction after 1933 when most of the coins were melted down by the U.S. Treasury department. Despite the turmoil surrounding this coin, or perhaps because of it, the Saint-Gaudens double eagle is considered not only the most lovely of American coins but also the most valuable. Minted from 1907 to 1933 in 90 percent gold and 10 percent copper, the coins were used primarily for international trade as they were in a 20-dollar denomination and were not found widely in circulation.
The Design
Inspired by stunning ancient Greek high relief coins, then President Theodore Roosevelt desired to have more beautiful coins created for the United States and in 1904 began pursuing his idea. He was friends with the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and felt this artist was the man most likely to create what Roosevelt required. Although Saint-Gaudens had had some negative experiences with the U.S. Mint in the past, he readily agreed to redesign the 20-dollar gold coin in addition to several other coins for President Roosevelt. This would be the first time someone other than a Mint employee would design a U.S. coin. The 20-dollar Liberty Head double eagle had been issued since 1850 and was one of the coins slated for redesign.
By 1905, Saint-Gaudens had the basics of the design. It would be a high relief coin with a protective high rim with the figure of Lady Liberty on the front in flowing drapery and a flying eagle on the reverse. The use of high relief was somewhat controversial as modern coins were all minted in a lower relief. At the President’s request, the high relief design was given the go ahead. A second design element that stirred controversy was the use of Roman numerals for the date of the coin. Again, it was Roosevelt that approved this part of the design. By 1906, Saint-Gaudens was increasingly loosing his health to cancer and before the coin’s design was finalized, died in 1907.
Further Controversy
The first attempts at striking the coin using a medal press with more pressure than a coin press required multiple strikes to produce the high relief coin. This was far from the single strike used for coinage. Even with a modified lower relief, it still took three strikes to produce the coin. Initially, with the insistence of the President, the Mint struck 12,000 high relief coins. The controversy did not end. The original coin did not include the motto, In God We Trust, and by an act passed by Congress, the design was modified to include the motto. A low-relief version was also created to make minting more efficient. In addition, the Roman numeral date was replaced by conventional numbering.
The last year of issue of the Saint-Gaudens double eagle gold coin was 1933. Shortly after all U.S. citizens were ordered to turn in their gold coins and the U.S. Treasury melted these and vast numbers of gold double eagles. Only a tiny number of the final date are believed to still exist.
Modern U.S. Bullion Gold Eagle Coins
The obverse of the Saint-Gaudens coin was resurrected in the 1986 and later U.S. gold bullion Gold Eagle coins. These are minted in one ounce, half-ounce and one-tenth ounce coins. Each coin is minted in 91.67 percent gold with the remainder being copper and silver to add durability to the coin. In 2009, a special high relief issue was minted in 99.99 percent gold.
