LOT Heritage Rare Coin Galleries  /  2006 October Dallas Signature Coin Auction #428  / 

3430

1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS66 PCGS. We are delig

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:60,000.00 USD Estimated At:1.00 - 1,000,000.00 USD
1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS66 PCGS. We are delig
<B>1907<$20> High Relief, Wire Rim MS66 PCGS.</B></I> We are delighted to offer this majestic High Relief double eagle, clearly one of our favorite coins. In fact, this design is classic Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and is considered by nearly everyone to be a highlight in American numismatic design. It is curious to ponder how other designs may be different had Saint-Gaudens lived to fulfill President Theodore Roosevelt's desire that he redesign all U.S. coinage issues.<BR> In <I>Numismatic Art in America,</B></I> Cornelius Vermeule published the text of a letter to Theodore Roosevelt, written by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his son Homer. "[Saint-Gaudens] first proposed to model the cent with a flying eagle, the formal lettering treated in a new fashion ... he settled that the one cent should exhibit a profile head and the [formal] lettering; that the ten-dollar gold piece should carry the same head, with the inscriptions shifted, and the standing eagle ..." Today, it is impossible to suggest what Saint-Gaudens may have been thinking a century ago, but we can be certain that his designs would have resembled the ancient Greek coinage with its heightened design relief. It was Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens who were responsible for the artistic revolution in American coinage design that resulted in the Indian Head gold designs along with the Mercury dime, Standing Liberty quarter, and Walking Liberty half dollar.<BR> This example is an amazing Premium Gem with satiny yellow-gold luster and extremely sharp design details. The fields are pristine and the surfaces are frosty, giving this piece a nearly medallic appearance. Population: 66 in 66, 19 finer (9/06).
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