1907 High Relief (1907 $20 High Relief) Wire Edge, PCGS MS64. Shimmering bright luster and clean surfaces characterize this 1907 High Relief Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle. Just a couple of trivial marks under the olive branch and on Libertys leg keep this lovely piece from the gem grade. The obverse is well struck, but there is slight, minor weakness on the reverse below the eagle. The obverse of this coin shows Liberty striding forward, her left foot, bear from knee to ankle, on a rock. Her hair flows behind and to the side. In her right hand she holds the torch of liberty. In her left, she holds an olive branch. Behind her on her right is a small capitol building. The date in Roman numbers is on the other side of her figure. The rays of the rising sun are seen behind her. She is surrounded by forty-six stars, one for each state of the Union at the time.

The reverse shows Saint-Gaudens magnificent, large eagle flying left. Above it in an arc are the words UNITED STATES OF AMERICA preceded, separated, and followed by dots. TWENTY DOLLARS is in another arc below the previous one and is also delineated with dots. The eagle flies above a rising sun, the rays of which extend above the eagle into the lettering. In order to provide a larger surface on which to work, Saint-Gaudens placed the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM on the edge of the coin.

President Theodore Roosevelt felt that the contemporary coinage was atrociously hideous. He asked his friend Augusts Saint-Gaudens, who agreed with Roosevelt, to redesign our coinage in the ancient style. Both felt that the beauty and dignity of the coinage of ancient Greece would be an appropriate model. Consequently, Saint-Gaudens chose to use high relief for his design for both the eagle and double eagle. He was opposed Charles Barber, the Engraver, on the grounds that high relief coins were impractical for commerce and banking. Unfortunately Saint-Gaudens had stomach cancer and never lived to see his beautiful creation in production. It fell to his student and assistant, Henry Hering to complete the project. However, Barber objected and placed obstacles wherever he could. Hering finally went to France to have Saint-Gaudens bas-reliefs made to coin size. Roosevelt had to intercede to get the high reliefs finally minted.

There are two varieties, the flat rim and the knife-rim, which are also called the flat edge and the wire edge, of which the present coin is an example. The wire edge is actually a rim or flange around half or more of one or both sides of the coin. It was made when metal was squeezed between the collar and the die. Most researchers believe that the flange was made unintentionally since it caused problems in ejecting the coins as they were struck. Charles Barber used this characteristic as one of the reasons to remake the coin with lower relief, and he did so with the date in Arabic numbers on later 1907 coins.

The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was deliberately left off of the coin. Roosevelt felt that a coin was no place for the name of God. It was something that might get stepped on or used for immoral purposes such as drinking, gambling or prostitution.

One of the great ironies of the twentieth century is that Theodore Roosevelts cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, ordered the Great Recall of all gold coinage held by citizens in 1933-34. Who knows how many of these beautiful pieces of art were melted?