1873

1907 $20 HR, Wire MS65 PCGS.From The Jackson Hole Coll 1907

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:40,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
	1907 $20 HR, Wire MS65 PCGS.From The Jackson Hole Coll 1907
<B>1907<$20> High Relief, Wire Edge MS65 PCGS.</B></I> The story of the High Relief double eagle, and other coinage designs created between 1907 and 1916, began as a simple comment by President Theodore Roosevelt in a letter he wrote to Treasury secretary Leslie Mortier Shaw on December 27, 1904: "I think our coinage is artistically of atrocious hideousness. Would it be possible, without asking permission of Congress, to employ a man like Saint-Gaudens to five us a coinage that would have some beauty?" President Roosevelt was obviously a practical man, and knew of the delays that could take place in Congress. Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the well-known sculptor who lived in Cornish, New Hampshire, across the Connecticut River from Windsor, Vermont, and who also maintained a studio in New York City as a practical matter. Over the next two years, considerable correspondence took place between Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens, and much of this is recorded by Dave Bowers in <I>A Guide Book of Double Eagle Gold Coins.</B></I> Saint-Gaudens was hired to take on the coinage redesign project and paid $5,000 for new coinage designs from the cent to double eagle. Without a doubt, Charles Barber and George Morgan (especially Barber) were greatly upset by this outsourcing, for they were the Mint employees responsible for coinage designs. The complete story of the High Relief double eagles could fill an entire book.<BR> This example is a remarkable Gem representative of the Wire Rim variation. These Wire Rim coins were apparently struck first, to the extent of approximately 8,000 coins, followed by a change in equipment setup and the striking of about 4,000 Flat Rim coins. A sharply detailed example with satiny luster and brilliant green-gold luster. Liberty's facial details are fully defined, for example. Even the leading edge of Liberty's wing is detailed. Aside from a few inevitable microscopic a