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Satiny honey gold with distinctive olive highlights. A frosty, matte like example of this
well-known and highly regarded design type, considered by many to be the most beautiful of
all American issues. As in our premier auction sale event, The Classics Sale of July 25,
2003, the selection of MCMVII High Relief double eagles available to our bidders is again
a "something for everyone" selection. We have no doubt that this specimen (as
well as the other specimens present in the current catalogue) will find homes in
world-class collections owned by world-class numismatists.Countless thousands of words
have been written about the MCMVII High Relief double eagle, and we can appreciate that.
However, we would be remiss if we didn't at least give a brief sketch here for those who
may not be familiar with the fascinating story behind the coin.
In 1905, President Teddy
Roosevelt, historically the president who took the most active interest in our coinage
designs, was disappointed with the mundane state of America's coinage designs. He had only
recently taken an interest in ancient Greek coins which he had seen on display, and
lamented the fact that the currency of his era was plain and uninspired by comparison.
Accordingly, Roosevelt contacted his long time acquaintance, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and
asked him to redesign the entire U.S. coinage spectrum, from the small bronze cent up to
the large gold double eagle. Saint-Gaudens, America's most admired sculptor, kept his
studio in Cornish, New Hampshire (just a couple of hours from our offices in downtown
Wolfeboro), where he prepared sketches and working models of his ideas. By the summer of
1907, Saint-Gaudens had nearly completed the work on the Indian $10 design as well as the
new $20 design, which he based on his statue of Victory, part of the Sherman Victory
Monument which stands today in New York City's Central Park. On August 3, 1907,
Saint-Gaudens succumbed to cancer without ever seeing an example of his work in a legal
tender format. His work was finished by his assistant, Henry Hering. Meanwhile, a great
"war" (Roosevelt called it his "pet crime") had broken out between the
Mint and Charles Barber on one side, and President Roosevelt on the other. Barber was
upset that Roosevelt had unkind words for his dime, quarter, and half dollar designs
(which had circulated as current coin of the realm since 1892), and he was also incensed
that an outside artist had been chosen to redesign the coinage. Barber protested that the
high relief of the dies would prevent the coins from striking, and on and on, causing
Roosevelt to state that the MCMVII $20 coins would be produced if it took all day to
strike just one coin! Despite Barber's shenanigans, the coins were eventually produced to
the tune of several hundred pieces a day, though not without difficulties, as each coin
needed three blows from the dies to be rendered to its full advantage. In time, some
11,250 High Relief MCMVII double eagles were produced to Teddy Roosevelt's satisfaction.
Barber then redesigned the dies, making them flatter in depth and considerably less
dynamic in appearance, remaining thusly through the demise of the series in 1933.
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