1925 Saint Gaudens - 1925 $20  St. Gaudens NGC AU58. This near-Mint State 1925 Double Eagle has significant amounts of mint luster within protected areas. Just a faint trace of wear is found on Libertys left knee, her forehead and breast, in keeping with the grade. The surfaces are original and clean for the grade, with no individually outstanding abrasion marks worthy of description. The coin is typically struck with some flatness on the obverse but full details on the reverse especially on the eagles wings and the suns rays.

The 1925 double eagle is a Motto Added type. In 1908 IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the reverse above the rising sun. President Theodore Roosevelt had been opposed to the motto because he felt that considering how a coin could be used, it was blasphemous to have the name of God on it. Coins could fall on the floor and be stepped on. They could be used for gambling or prostitution. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the designer, agreed and the two of them planned the double eagle with no motto.

In fact the mintages of the first year and half of the second had no motto. However, Congress disagreed and ordered all coins to adhere to the law that was passed in 1865. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, those who opposed having Gods name on the coinage were probably thought of as anarchists and/or Bolsheviks. Of course, Congress was more concerned with public opinion than the First Amendments principle of separation of church and state, and so the motto was mandated.

It became Charles Barbers responsibility to rework the coin adding the motto. In 1912 the coin was further modified by adding two stars for New Mexico and Arizona, the two newest states. Barber also modified the reverse by changing the tail feathers from eight to nine, and the suns rays from 34 to 33. He also made the heavier rays thinner and some of them longer.

During the Great Recall of 1933-34, there was extensive melting of double eagles. Americans were mandated to turn in their hoards of gold with an exemption of $100 in gold coin per person. Collectors of rare and unusual coins were also allowed to keep their collections, probably because certain government officials had collections of pattern coins. Not only did the act prohibit the hoarding of gold, it prohibited the increasingly extensive speculative activity abroad in foreign exchange [that] has resulted in severe drains on the Nations stocks of gold. As a result, President Franklin Roosevelt declared a national emergency and bank holiday, which he felt would be in the national interest. After confiscation of the coins, there was melting. The coins were made into gold bricks that were deposited in Fort Knox. In the period from 1933 to 1939, 66,383,444 double eagles were melted.

Despite Charles Barbers tinkering with the design, it has retained its appeal over the years. In fact the gold American Eagle bullion program, first issued in 1986, makes use of the design in a somewhat modified form.

Because of its large mintage, the 1925 double eagle is a relatively common date. It makes an excellent type coin for the collector.