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1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS65 PCGS. The Hig

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:32,500.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS65 PCGS. The Hig
<B>1907<$20> High Relief, Wire Rim MS65 PCGS.</B></I> The High Relief double eagle is one of the most popular and unquestionably beautiful coins ever produced by the U.S. mint. It was the culmination of a process that began in 1905 at a White House dinner with President Theodore Roosevelt and noted sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Both men admired the artistic accomplishments of the Greek coins struck around the time of Alexander the Great and the high relief these pieces were struck in. Both assumed since the Greeks could produce such coins with artistic merit 2,200 ago, surely the United States Mint could also. What both men failed to recognize, however, was the ancient Greeks were not in a hurry to mass produce their coinage. The United States Mint was in a hurry, and had deadlines to meet for each series produced in each mint. This was something Charles Barber knew. Barber had artistic differences with Saint-Gaudens going back to 1892, but that aside, he knew that the models Henry Hering delivered to the Mint in 1907 were impossible to produce with a single strike from a steam press. Tests were conducted and a singly struck coin could not be fully brought up--it lacked complete details and was especially lacking in the area of the torch on the obverse. Seven blows from a hydraulic press for medals (not the normal coining press for coins), were required to fully bring up all the details Saint-Gaudens engraved in the models he sent to the Mint. The High Relief twenties, such as the one seen in this lot, are a compromise on the part of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Henry Hering. Their original concept was the Ultra High Relief for circulating coinage--a splendid idea but one that was completely impractical from the standpoint of mass production. After 11,000 or so strikings of the High Relief (as seen here) the project was abandoned, the original design lowered to practical levels, and large production commenced with the Arabic Numerals 1907 issue. The High Relief twenties remain, however, a testament to what could have been if time and money were no object in the production of coinage. This particular piece has finely granular surfaces with an overlay of satiny mint luster. The green-gold surfaces display just a bit of reddish patina, and there are no reportable contact marks on either side.