SAINT-GAUDENS GOLD COINS

The $20 Saint-Gaudens Gold Coin

90% Purity / 22 Karat / Gold Content – 0.9675 Troy Oz. / Minted 1907 – 1933 / Diameter – 34 mm

At the start of the 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt decided it was time to beautify American Coinage. He hired his personal friend and world famous sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to come up with the design. By 1907, the Double Eagle rare coins came to be. The obverse side of the coin features Miss Liberty striding gloriously into the future with Saint-Gaudens’ mark appearing under the date. The reverse side contains the majestic eagle flying above the sun with the words IN GOD WE TRUST below. Saint-Gaudens gold coins were the last gold pieces struck by the U.S. government for regular issue and are widely considered to be some of the most rare coins, as well as the best of all American coin designs.

ABOUT THE SCULPTOR: AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born on March 1st, 1848 in Dublin, Ireland. His parents immigrated to the United States when Augustus was only 6 months old, settling in New York City.  At a very early age, Augustus developed a strong interest in art and sculpting, using precious metals, which led him to take courses at the National Academy of Design. At the age of 19, he left to continue his art studies in Paris where he studied at the atelier of Francois Jouffroy at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Following his studies in Paris, Augustus left for Rome at the age of 22 in 1870. A few years later, he returned to the U.S. and married Elizabeth Fisher Nichols, who was the sister of Augustus’ close friend Augusta Fisher Homer whom he befriended while studying in Rome.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was popular for the success of his design of monuments of Civil War Generals and heroes. These include a statue of Robert Gould Shaw on the Boston Common, General John A. Logan atop a tumulus in Chicago, and William Sherman located in New York’s Central Park, to name a few. Other famous works by Saint-Gaudens include the Charles Stewart Parnell monument on Dublin’s O’Connell Street, and a sculpture on a medallion of Robert Louis Stevenson which started as a sketch in 1887 and turned into a five-year project to complete.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens passed away on August 3rd, 1907 at the age of 59.

ABOUT THE COIN

At the very early start of his studies in sculpting, Augustus took great interest in the art design of precious metals and coins. Augustus was chosen by his close friend Theodore Roosevelt to redesign the coinage of the U.S. in the early years of the 20th century. Augustus Saint-Gaudens designed what is known to be the most beautiful U.S. minted coin, the SAINT-GAUDENS. The original production was a high-relief coin that took 11 strikes to bring up the details within the coin. A total of 12,367 of these original high-relief coins were produced for circulation. Extremely rare coins, the limited Saint-Gaudens double eagle coins that were minted in 1907 are valued anywhere from $10,000 to millions of dollars, an amazing gold investment.  A flattened down version was adopted and produced by the U.S. Mint – originally minted from 1907-1933.

In 1986, when the U.S. Mint started minting The American Eagle gold bullion coin, Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ obverse design was reintroduced.

$20 Saint-Gaudens VF