1907 $20 Saint Gaudens (1907 Saint Gaudens), PCGS MS65. Bright mint luster and relatively clean surfaces characterize this gem 1907 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle. A couple of minor marks on the reverse below the eagle keep it from an even higher mint state grade. The strike is above average on the obverse with sight central weakness observed and quite strong on the reverse with all of the details easy to observe. After several versions of the design for the double eagle proved too difficult to strike, Barber modified Augustus Saint-Gaudens's design, lowering the relief so the coin could be struck with only one blow.

All of the 1907 double eagles, the ultrahigh relief, the high relief, and the Barber modified low relief have the basic design in common. They also have in common the omission of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST. Roosevelt wanted this left off because he considered it blasphemous to write the name of God on money, since it could be spent for immoral purposes. When the coins were finally released, they proved controversial as they lacked the motto and Congress intervened to require the its addition in 1908.

The modifications made the coin more suitable for the mass production of millions of coins. The high relief double eagle is estimated to have taken a total of twelve minutes per coin to produce with its several trips through the medal press and the annealing furnace. In sharp contrast, the low relief design that replaced it could be struck at the rate of eighty coins per minute on the regular coining presses.

The change from the Roman numeral for the date to the Arabic 1907, illustrated the change from classical to commercial. All of the following double eagles were minted in reduced relief and used Arabic numbers for the date. Barber was far more concerned with function rather than form. A review of his efforts would seem to bear out a tendency to produce efficient everyday tools of the economy rather than a collection of object dart to please generations of numismatists.