1926 Saint Gaudens $20 GOLD DOUBLE EAGLE
The St. Gaudens double eagle is named for the designer, Augustus St. Gaudens, one of the premier sculptors in American history. Theodore Roosevelt imposed upon him in his last few years to redesign the nation's coinage at the beginning of the 20th century. St. Gaudens' work on the high-relief $20 gold piece is considered to be one of the most extraordinary pieces of art on any American coin. The mint eventually insisted on a low-relief version, as the high-relief coin took up to eleven strikes to bring up the details and didn't stack correctly for banking purposes. Only 12,367 of these coins were struck in 1907. These coins easily top the $10,000 price in circulated grades, but can reach nearly a half million dollars in the best states of preservation.
There were several changes in the early years of this design. The first coins issued in 1907 design featured a date in Roman numerals, but this was changed later that year to the more convenient Arabic numerals. The motto "In God We Trust" was omitted from the initial design, as Roosevelt felt that it was inappropriate to put the name of God on money. By act of Congress, the motto was added in mid-1908.
The design of the St. Gaudens coin was slightly changed once more when New Mexico and Arizona became states in 1912, and the number of stars along the rim was accordingly increased from 46 to 48.
Double eagles were routinely minted through 1933, although few of the very last years' coinages were released before the gold recall legislation of that year. Accordingly, these issues bring very high prices.
The St. Gaudens obverse design was reused in the American Eagle gold bullion coins that were instituted in 1986. The early 1907 double eagles and the 1986-1991 gold American Eagles are the only instances of Roman numerals denoting the date on American coinage.
On January 22, 2009 the U.S. Mint released ultra high relief double eagles using the deep design that St. Gaudens envisioned. It is one ounce of .9999 fine gold. Because of their higher gold content, and greater striking pressure, the coins will be 27 mm wide and 4 mm deep (the same diameter as a gold eagle), rather than the 34 by 2 usual for double eagles and bullion coins. The initial selling price was $1239; by June it had climbed to $1339. There will be no limit on the coinage of these one time uncirculated issues, which bear the date "MMIX". [1]
A DOUBLE EAGLE IS A GOLD COIN OF THE UNITED STATES WITH A DENOMINATION OF $20. (ITS GOLD CONTENT OF 0.9675 TROY OZ WAS WORTH $20 AT THE THEN OFFICIAL PRICE OF $20.67/OZ). THE COINS ARE MADE FROM A 90% GOLD (0.900 FINE = 21.6 KT) AND 10% COPPER ALLOY.
Although the "eagle"-based nomenclature for gold U.S. coinage is often assumed to be a nickname, the "eagle," "half-eagle" and "quarter-eagle" were specifically given these names in the Act of Congress that originally authorized them ("An Act establishing a Mint, and regulating Coins of the United States", section 9, April 2, 1792). Likewise, the Double Eagle was specifically created as such by name ("An Act to authorize the Coinage of Gold Dollars and Double Eagles", title and section 1, March 3, 1849).
The first double eagle was minted in 1849, coinciding with the California Gold Rush. In that year, the mint produced two pieces in proof. The first resides in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. The second was presented to then Treasury Secretary William M. Meredith and was later sold as part of his estate - the present location of this coin remains unknown.
In 1850 regular production began and continued until 1933 (when the official price of gold was changed to $35/oz by theGold Reserve Act). Prior to 1850, eagles with a denomination of $10 were the largest denomination of US coin. $10 eagles were produced beginning in 1795, just two years after the first U.S. mint opened. Since the $20 gold piece had twice the value of the eagle, these coins were designated "double eagles". In 1850, the double eagle would have been equivalent to the purchasing power of $510.56 today.
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