Beautiful
1907 High Relief $20 Flat Edge, PCGS MS64 CAC Click on Coin Image to
enlarge
Presenting
an absolutely GORGEOUS specimen of the worlds most popular
double eagle, the classic 1907 High Relief, NGC MS-64
CAC!
Please contact
me by email
or telephone 1-941-291-2156
to reserve this great coin.
Two varieties of the
1907 High Relief Saint-Gaudens double eagle were produced:
the Wire Rim and the Flat Rim. A total of 11,250 pieces
were minted of both varieties combined, with the Flat
Rim coins being at least four to five times scarcer
than their Wire Rim counterparts This lovely coin is
an even yellow-gold color on both the obverse and reverse.
The coin is lustrous, especially on Liberty’s
outstretched leg and drapery and on the rays of the
sun. On the reverse, we see luster on some of the feathers
and between the sun’s rays behind the eagle’s
beak. The coin is free of contact marks usually associated
with the grade. In fact while grading MS64 and confirmed
by CAC, this coin could easily reside in a holder a
point or two higher. The strike is full in that we see
every detail on the obverse, including the drapery lines
on Liberty’s knee. On the reverse, we see every
line in every feather of the eagle. A full strike is
unusual for this issue, which is most often seen with
weakness on some details of the hair, drapery, face,
oak leaves, sunburst, or tail feathers.
At the turn of the 20th
century, President Theodore Roosevelt decided to start
an effort to beautify American coinage. He induced Augustus
Saint-Gaudens, his personal friend for years, to overhaul
American designs. Saint-Gaudens only lived to finish
the double eagle and the eagle. These two designs are
considered by some to be the best designs of their denominations
and some of the best of any American coin ever. The
double eagle design is considered by many to be the
most beautiful American gold coin design. It is currently
in use, with minor modifications, on American gold bullion
coinage.
The original coinage
of 1907 had an ultra high relief as the artist intended.
However, when the Mint struck some coins, they required
repeated striking by the presses, and had more the appearance
of medals than coins. There are two varieties the “flat
rim” and “knife rim.” Many estimates
agree that the approximately 3,000 of November 1907
had flat rims, and the 8,250 of December showed knife
rims. The wire or knife rim is a raised flange around
half or more of the coin on either or both sides, caused
by metal being squeezed between the collar and die on
successive blows during striking. The present coin is
the flat rim type with thirteen rays on the sunburst.
When it was found that
the high relief coins would not stack, the coin was
redesigned by Mint Engraver Charles Barber to a lower
relief, more practical design. However, some of the
high relief coins found their way into circulation.
The coins were minted continuously until 1933, except
for 1917-19, when no coins were struck.
In 1907 and 1908, a
number of eagle and double eagle coins were minted without
the motto of IN GOD WE TRUST. At that time, the coinage
laws did not require the motto, and so Saint-Gaudens
had not been asked to include it. President Roosevelt
defended the omission as a prevention of a profane use
of God's name, but in 1908, Congress passed an act requiring
the use of the motto on all denominations of coins on
which the motto had previously appeared--including the
eagle and double eagle. The reverse of the coin was
redesigned to include the motto.
