LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 (ANA) Signature Coin Auction #444  / 

2063

1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS65 NGC

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:33,750.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS65 NGC
<B>1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS65 NGC.</B></I> So much attention is focused on the obverse of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' numismatic <I>chef d'oeuvre </B></I>that sometimes the reverse, along with its equally fascinating genesis from concept to commercialization, is nearly forgotten. It appears that the old show business adage "don't show me anything you don't want me to steal" could be applied to coinage design as well. The flying eagle on the reverse of the 1836-39 Gobrecht dollars, from an original concept by naturalist-painter Titian Ramsey Peale (1799-1883) under the guidance of Mint Director Robert Maskell Patterson, is the source of what would ultimately become Saint-Gaudens' reverse. According to "From the Drawing-Board of a Coin Engraver" by Elvira Clain-Stefanelli in <I>The American Numismatic Association Centennial Anthology</B></I>, "In a letter written later, in the spring of 1836, to Secretary of the Treasury Woodbury, Patterson, in talking about the current gold coins exclaimed in disdain: 'it would really be a pity that six million worth of gold coins should be spread over the country with that thing on the reverse which courtesy may call an eagle, but which art and nature refuse to recognize.' He referred to a rather graceful heraldic eagle, with spread wings and a shield on its chest. According to him: 'the absurdity of a shield sticking to the breast of a bird is avoided,--the shield, with its thirteen stripes, being placed with the figure of Liberty, on the face of the coin. The arrows and branches are also removed from the eagle's claws, as contrary to nature and good taste."<BR> Despite Patterson's intense personal interest in the design and his close direction of Peale that required the artist to make more than 30 sketches; despite Mint Engraver Christian Gobrecht's translation of the concept into a powerful, graceful eagle flying "onward and upward" on the Gobrecht dollar reverse; and despite Patterson's personal opposition to a heraldic eagle, when the regular Seated Liberty dollars premiered in 1840, the naturalistic flying eagle was gone, for reasons that appear lost to numismatic history today. While the heraldic eagle reverse that appeared was considerably more natural in appearance than the design from the old gold coins, the majesty, grace, and power of an eagle in flight are absent.<BR> In 1856 when the first Flying Eagle cents were launched, Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longacre adopted the Christian Gobrecht design, but it was short-lived, and the long-running Indian cent design replaced it only three years later.<BR> Saint-Gaudens greatly admired the design, as it undoubtedly appealed both to his naturalistic sensibilities and his predilection for massive forms. Although he originally intended to use it for the cent, that use was overruled, and in the summer of 1906 he determined to use it for the double eagle. While the obverse of the final Saint-Gaudens design features a Liberty that is not only massive and natural but somewhat confrontational, an "in-your-face" Liberty striding purposefully forward with a fiery torch, the flying eagle on the reverse is majestic without threat, colossal but graceful and uncombative. <BR> The present example shows both sides to maximum advantage, as there are absolutely no distractions visible to the unaided eye. The bountiful luster alternately shades the highpoints and highlights the fields, with the sculptural impact of this most beautiful coinage design captured in superlative condition.<BR><BR><B>Coin Engraver:</B> Augustus Saint-Gaudens<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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