The mint should make a high relief gold eagle coin with Roman numerals for 2008!
GUINZO1975
Posts: 182
The mint should make a high relief coin to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the St. Gaudens Coin. The mint has been peddling all kinds of crap lately so this idea is not far fetched. If they make a coin like that with the Roman Numerals, it would sell like hot cakes!
GUINZO1975
0
Comments
2008 would be the 101st anniversary - if there was no congressional or mint support for the centennial (which there wasn’t), why do you think there would be for 2008?
* * * * *
Hon. NNN N. NNNNN
SR 111
Washington, DC 20510-2903
May 30, 2006
Dear Senator NNNNN:
The year 2007 marks the one hundredth anniversary of a political-artistic collaboration unique to America. In September 1907 new $20 gold coins were produced as a result of the political will of President Theodore Roosevelt and the artistic genius of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
From his studio, “Aspet,” located near Cornish, New Hampshire, Saint-Gaudens created a coinage design that is still, one hundred years later, considered among the very best ever produced by any nation. The Roosevelt–Saint-Gaudens collaboration also began a period during which all of America’s circulating coins were redesigned to the highest artistic and symbolic standards.
My purpose in writing is to ask that you consider sponsoring legislation which would permit the United States Mint to re-issue the 1907 high-relief $20 coin exactly as conceived and initially produced under President Roosevelt’s sponsorship. The only change would be to use the date 2007 instead of 1907. (The date was originally expressed in Roman numerals, MCMVII, and should remain so, only as MMVII.) The United States Mint, I believe, still has the original plaster models, and the National Park Service’s Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish can provide any additional models that might be needed. An image of the original models accompa-nies this letter.
The resultant one-year commemorative coin should be produced only at the Philadelphia Mint, and in only one surface variation so as to match the originals as closely as possible given changes in minting technology. Further, it may be appropriate for the sale of each coin to include a modest surcharge with the funds going to the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site for preser-vation and restoration of the sculptor’s models and studios.
If I may be of any assistance in this matter, please contact me.
Very truly yours,
* * * * *
In my opinion though 2007 should have been the year so I doubt it's going to happen.
Maybe a gold coin with no In God We Trust followed closely by one with it to match my 1908 Saint Gaudens.
To me this is one of the most interesting stories in coinage. The removal of IGWT and it being placed back on the coin in such short order. I have an '08 No Motto and an '08 Motto and they are my favorite coins.
John
Never view my other linked pages. They aren't coin related.
The mess started in November 1907 when the first eagles were released. Letters of objection began flowing to the White House and Congress within days. Although Congress and the President were of the same political party, the Republican moniker is about all they agreed on. Roosevelt was open minded and progressive, Congress narrow and very conservative. By December it was obvious that IGWT would have to be added to the new coins and the mint prepared preliminary drawings. In the end, Congress won.
(Details and quotes will be found in Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908 from Seneca Mill Press, 2005.)
I put up a poll on it last year and almost everyone said they'd pay up substantially for it if the mintages were anywhere near the anniversary issue mintages!
The mint doesn't seem to listen to collectors that much anyway. Oh well- nice idea to fantasize about for a 25th Anniversary AGE.
Not only should the relief be higher, but the figure of Liberty needs a complete overhaul. The figure is too slim at the waist and her pelvis is anatomically strange. The face depicts a silly wide-mouthed grin, not to mention the stiff, puppet-like neck it sits on. Her right knee is unusually pointy and her left foot looks disconnected from her leg. The sun rays lack the delicacy of the original, and for some reason, have blunt tips. Overall, the drapery engraving is too detailed, something St Gaudens would have never approved of. Of course, the reverse of the coin simply does not translate very well. The eagle's wings have an awkward folded look to them. The flat fields on both obverse and reverse do not add to the appeal.
An exact replica of the original high relief would be a sight to behold, but I doubt it will ever happen. From my perspective, it seems that most people do not care about these not so subtle artistic distinctions. The explosion of aesthetically pleasing coins of the early twentieth century seems to have been a one shot deal. The artist behind the coin is the driving force that influences my collecting choices. Unfortunately, that only leaves a small handful of choices.
At the time (1905-1921) no one seemed to really grasp the potential or to have any idea how to follow up the artistry and originality. The commonplace Lincoln cent by Brenner was used as a guide for all the future and other “dead folks” ended up on the coinage.
Honor our national ideals on our national coinage. Honor the people and events of the nation on non-circulating commemoratives.
<< <i>The explosion of aesthetically pleasing coins of the early twentieth century seems to have been a one shot deal. The artist behind the coin is the driving force that influences my collecting choices. Unfortunately, that only leaves a small handful of choices. >>
Seems like the coins before and after these were primarily meant to facilitate commerce.
****************
By US Mint on Thursday, March 13, 2008
Filed Under: US Mint, Mint News, Featured, Gold & Silver Bullion
United States Mint Director Ed Moy announced at a meeting today of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee that the agency plans to recreate what many have called the nation’s most beautiful coin ever minted-Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ original ultra-high relief Liberty $20 Gold Piece.
High Releif Saint
The design will be featured on a collectible 24-karat coin intended for sale to the public in 2009. In preparing to mint this coin, the United States Mint will test the development of the second variation of Saint-Gaudens’ design, the 27-millimeter, ultra-high relief coin with Roman numerals.
“We want to spur the highest level of artistic excellence in American coin design,” said Director Moy. “Recreating thousands of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ ultra-high relief Double Eagles will be a defining moment in American coinage.”
President Theodore Roosevelt selected Augustus Saint-Gaudens to improve the designs on the nation’s coinage, and the sculptor’s first task was redesigning gold coins.
Maintaining the full artistic integrity of the Saint-Gaudens design was an arduous undertaking in 1907. The United States Mint’s first attempt-a 34-millimeter ultra-high relief coin with Roman numerals-required the coins to be ‘squeezed’ into a press and annealed numerous times. The coining process was impractical for mass production, and approximately 19 coins of this variety are known to exist. These coins are now mostly in private ownership.
The United States Mint’s second attempt to produce Saint-Gaudens’ design-a 27 millimeter, ultra-high relief coin with Roman numerals-was in fact two $10 Gold Eagle planchets melded together. The resulting coins were twice as thick. The United States Mint had no authority to strike coins of this specification in 1907, so it melted all but two or perhaps three of these coins.
The United States Mint’s third attempt-a high-relief, 34-millimeter coin with Roman numerals-produced a coin with reduced relief that required less metal flow to fill the design and was more practical for mass production. Approximately 12,000 coins were made for collection. Later, in 1907, an additional 361,000 coins with Arabic numerals and a lower relief were produced for circulation.
None of the 1907 variants bore the inscription, “In God We Trust.” The inscription, added in 1908, appears on the coin’s reverse directly above the sun. Production of the Saint-Gaudens $20 Gold Double Eagle continued until 1932. Production of the 1933 $20 Gold Double Eagle ceased, and only one was ever lawfully issued - some 70 years later. The new coin will have the inscription “In God We Trust” in the same position as 1908, when the inscription first appeared with this design.
A variation of the Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle has been in production for the American Eagle Gold Coin product line since 1986.
Contact: Press inquiries: Michael White (202) 354-7222
Customer Service information: (800) USA MINT (872-6468)
<< <i>It would be a beautiful coin. And, a proof version might have an interesting look to it as well. Or one of those winged versions I saw in a pattern book years ago. Now that would be something. The Mint could probably even get away with charging a larger-that-usual premium for such a coin. >>
I'd love it for them to make a winged version. Liberia made a proof gold coin using that design but it's not the same.
Now, if we’re going to bugger it up by shiny mirrors (to which Saint-Gaudens objected) and gimmicks, why no go all the way and do ‘em in two-tone aluminum or maybe rhodium or platinum or ruthenium or palladium, gold and silver with pretty colors painted on by those Canadian folks. And, while we’re at it, lets move some stuff around and change the ol’ gal’s shoes and add the extra wings on the Capitol. Wouldn’t take much to make it look like a real “Work of Congress” or some half-hinny committee of artistic morons.
Do it the way the original sculptor intended – and be done with it!