Lot 1831
$20 Gold St. Gaudens. 1907. High relief, Roman numerals, flat rim. PCGS graded MS-66 PQ! A fantastic example of one of the most beautiful coin designs in United States and World numismatics. Saint Gauden's stunning portrayal of Liberty is struck up in full, high relief on this PQ specimen! Liberty's dress detail is immaculate and the legs are missing any nicks. The luster is uniterrupted as it flows freely across the fields and across the devices. Magnification reveals interwoven circles of light die polish, most noticeable at the tip of the 4th ray above the Roman numeral date. These raised circular die lines are seen on only the finest examples with surface preservation of the highest degree.
This beautiful coin issue was the result of work by Augustus St. Gaudens at the request of then President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt felt strongly about bringing beauty back to America's coinage that he felt was boring and nowhere near the distinction of many Ancient Greek coin designs. Through all of the insuing problems St. Gaudens and Roosevelt endured from the political sewing cirlce of the time, the project was successful and finally 11,250 high relief examples were produced in 1907. This quantity of High Relief examples was sufficient enough to satisfy Roosevelt but also enough to cause the public to complain about the negative effect of their awkward design. Lower relief dies with Arabic numerals were produced and the mass production of "Saints", as we know them as today, began in full force.
Out of the mintage figure of 11,250, there are two varieties struck from the same dies, Flat Rim (Edge) and Wire Rim (Edge). The Flat Edge examples are substantially more rare, probably on an order of 2-3x as rare in grades above MS65. PCGS has 28 Flat Rim examples in MS66, 2 in MS67 and a single MS68 as finest (PCGS # 9136) .
Estimated Value $45,000 - 55,000.
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| Realized $69,000 |
