1907
High Relief, Flat Rim NGC MS63 CAC Click on Coin Image to
enlarge
1907
$20 High Relief, Flat Rim, NGC MS63 CAC - $27,900
Presenting an absolutely GORGEOUS specimen
of the worlds most popular double eagle, the classic 1907
High Relief, NGC MS-63 CAC!
Please compare this
High Relief with the MS-64's you see in PCGS or NGC holders.
Oh did I say compare them with MS-64's and this one is in
an MS-63 holder you say? Let me take a closer look, hey you
are right but this one, the better more rare variety of high
relief's, the flat rim also has been approved by CAC. Only
22 Flat Rims have been approved in MS-63 while 79 Wire Rims,
more than 3 times as many and I'm asking you to put enlarged
images of this High Relief up against those MS-64's.
This really is a hand
picked beauty of a High Relief and this weekend only $27,900.
Please contact me by email
or telephone to reserve this great coin. Deluxe Photo-Specimen
included.
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 MS 63 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.
