1907 High Relief Wire Rim - 1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim  NGC PF64. This near-Gem proof, 1907 High Relief Double Eagle is the Wire Rim variety. This 1907 High Relief shows smoldering mint luster within its devices. The surfaces of this 1907 High Relief are original and clean. No individually distracting contact marks or hairlines are visible without magnification. In fact, this 1907 High Relief coin could have been graded a Gem proof piece. The strike is above average with full details on Libertys bosom, the Capitol building and its immediate area at the lower left, and the feathers at the top of the wings. Traces of the raised wire rim are seen on both sides of the coin.

The High Relief Saint-Gaudens double eagles have long been considered Americas most beautiful coin; however, even the low relief coins that Charles Barber modified have had lasting beauty and appeal. The modern Gold American Eagle bullion program uses a modification of the Saint-Gaudens double eagle low relief design, and it is exceedingly popular with investors as a replacement for the Union of South Africa Krugerrand.

The coinage began in 1907 with the Ultra High Relief pattern coins. These are so rare that they are virtually unavailable today with 15 certified by both major grading services, and this number does not account for resubmissions and crossovers. The High Relief coins followed in the same year. With a mintage of 12,367, they are available to collectors and investors today. Some of these double eagle coins have a wire rim, such as the present coin, and others a flat rim. The former is caused by extra metal being squeezed out between the dies and collar causing a rim or flange around most of one or both sides. The coins also have a lettered edge. E PLURIBUS UNUM is on the edge with stars dividing the words.

Saint-Gaudens took the setting for the obverse from his sculpture, Victory. The coin depicts Liberty striding toward the viewer as if she is ready to step out of the coin. She is holding an olive branch in her left hand and a torch in her right, lighting the way to freedom as dawn rises over the Capitol. She is wearing a loose, flowing gown that exposes her arms and her left knee and leg, and her long hair flows to the side. The Capitol building is shown at the lower left. Behind her are rays of the sunburst. The date in Roman numerals is on the right, below the olive branch. LIBERTY is in an arc at the top border. Forty-six stars surround the edge of the coin, one for each state in the Union at the time. On the reverse, Saint-Gaudens placed a large, majestic eagle viewed from slightly below, soaring to the left above the rising sun. It is reminiscent of Gobrechts flying eagle. Above the eagle in two arcs are the inscriptions UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the denomination. All of the words in the legends on the reverse are separated by dots. Beneath the eagle is the rising sun with stylized rays, some of which touch the opposite rim. Saint-Gaudens had placed the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM on the coins edge thus reducing the clutter on the obverse and reverse and reinforcing their clean, open look.

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.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born in Ireland, the son of a shoemaker. He became one of Americas most successful sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1848, his family moved from Dublin to New York before his first birthday. When he was thirteen, Saint-Gaudens left school and became an apprentice to a cameo cutter. He also took classes at Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design. When he was nineteen, he moved to Europe where he studied classical art and architecture.

His first commission was a statue of Admiral Farragut that is still in Madison Square Park in New York. By the 1890s Saint-Gaudens had produced his statues of Diana and Abraham Lincoln, both considered some of his greatest works. He also created works such as the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Boston Common and the equestrian monument to Civil War general John A. Logan in Chicago. He became part of a group of new artists and architects and worked for an architectural firm for whom he produced a group of monuments and decorative sculpture. Throughout his career, he worked with architects creating works that were designed specifically for the sites they were building. At the entrance to New Yorks Central Park is his bronze statue of General Sherman led by Victory. It took him eleven years to complete this project.

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 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.

Saint-Gaudens moved to his summer home in Cornish, New Hampshire in 1900. Joined there by a community of artists, Saint-Gaudens spent his final years. He died of stomach cancer in 1907 just after he created the beautiful high relief models for the eagle and double eagle coins at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt, for whom he had earlier designed the second inaugural medal.

The High Relief Double Eagle is a one-year issue, and it is essential for any collector who wants to complete a type set of United States or gold coins. It is even on the I have to have one list of collectors who are not particularly interested in gold coins. Examples in almost all grades are available; however, demand is constant for issues in any condition.