1907 $20 High Relief (1907 High Relief ) Wire Rim, NGC MS64. This near gem, High Relief, Saint Gaudens Double Eagle shows muted mint luster on Libertys upper body, arm, and knee making it look as if she has just stepped into the sun light. Similarly, the eagle seems to be lit from below with luster. A few wispy marks on the reverse keep this coin from a gem grade. The strike is above average with some obverse central weakness and reverse weakness on the suns rays. The double eagle is considered by some to be the most beautiful coin of all time and Saint-Gaudens most famous work.

Certainly numismatists feel that the double eagle is his most important work. Struck in high relief Liberty is seen striding towards the viewer as the sun rises behind her. She holds a torch, symbol of enlightenment, in her right hand an olive branch, symbol of peace, in her left. On her right at the bottom is the Capitol building. LIBERTY is above her head, and she is surrounded by forty-six stars, one for each state in the Union at the time. Saint-Gaudens took the figure of liberty from his statue of Victory, which is part of the Sherman monument in New York City. The reverse of the coin shows a magnificent eagle in flight to the left above the sun. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and TWENTY DOLLARS form a double arc above it.

Saint-Gaudens deliberately left off the motto IN GOD WE TRUST at the request of President Roosevelt, a religious man who felt that it was blasphemous to have Gods name inscribed on a coin. He did not wish the name of Lord on coins to be dropped and stepped on or passed around brothels, saloons, gambling halls or used for other immoral purposes.

President Theodore Roosevelt had a vision of a totally redesigned United States coinage. He spoke of his pet crime now that he was president and could act on his feelings. He recruited Saint-Gaudens to aid him in this new project which was to bypass the mundane Mint Engraver, Charles Barber. The president and artist had met in 1905 when Roosevelt chose Saint-Gaudens to design his inaugural medal for his second term. Not only did Roosevelt love the medal, but he realized that Saint-Gaudens shared his admiration for the high relief coinage of ancient Greece. Despite the fact that his health was in decline, the artist accepted Roosevelts challenge to redesign Americas coinage. Although he never lived to see his designs in circulation, many feel that High Relief double eagle is finest United States coin ever minted.

When asked by Roosevelt to assist him, Saint-Gaudens replied, "I am extremely interested in the matter of the new designs of the coinage ... it will I assure you give me great pleasure to assist in the procuring of good work." Roosevelt had the Mint engage the artist to redesign those coins which could be changed without Congressional approvalthe cent and the four gold coins. No United States coin had ever been designed by anyone other than a Mint employee prior to Saint-Gaudens work.