Saint-Gaudens double eagle

The St. Gaudens Double Eagle is an American gold coin that was minted 1907-1933. Named is the coin with a face value of $ 20 after their designer, sculptor Augustus Saint -Gaudens. The output of 1933 counts with a collector's value of $ 7.6 million the most expensive coins in the world.

History

At the beginning of the 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt began the transformation of American gold coins. To this end, it commissioned the sculptor Augustus Saint -Gaudens. Because Saint -Gaudens died in 1907, only the designs for the 10 were - and 20 - dollar piece completed.

In his designs, he was guided by many coins and medals, including ancient Greek coins and medals with high relief. The finished designs for the Double Eagle point to the front of the American Goddess of Liberty "Lady Liberty " on the back of a flying bald eagle and have favored by Augustus Saint -Gaudens high -relief on.

The employees of the Mint in Philadelphia aware of the problems that arise in shaping a high reliefs, but had to make a few test copies at the urging of President Roosevelt. The exact number is not known, estimates range 19 to 24 As expected, proved to be the manufacture of the specimens to be very problematic. Although specifically an embossing machine for medals was used, the coins had to be coined twelve times, until all the details were visible.

A proposal for solving the problem has been to reduce the diameter and to increase the thickness. Thirteen samples were then prepared with a smaller diameter. Since a change in the diameter only with the consent of the Congress was possible, this plan was discarded, and the samples were up to two copies that are now in the archive of the mint, melted down.

Finally, the drafts were revised and the height of the relief has been reduced. However, the embossing still proved to be problematic, so that was changed finally after about 12,000 coins minted on a flat relief. At the same time we replaced the Roman numerals in the year by Arabic.

After several complaints from the public in mid 1908 has been added on the back of the coin the motto "In God We Trust".

1912, the design was changed one last time. The accession of New Mexico and Arizona to the Union, the number of states increased from 46 to 48 had to why the number of stars on the front also be increased to 48. The additional stars are located at the bottom right.

The end for the St. Gaudens Double Eagle came with the Great Depression in the early 1930s. The circumstances forced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to special measures. By Executive Order 6102, the private ownership of gold was prohibited, with the exception of jewelry and collectible coins (see gold ban). All other gold holdings in private ownership had to be delivered to collection points at the fixed price of $ 20.67 per troy ounce ( 31.1 g). In this way, many of these coins were lost. Especially the last vintages from 1927 are now very rare and sought after by collectors. The vintage 1933 no longer came to the issue and was melted end of 1934.

1933er Double Eagle

Given the gold ownership ban already minted coins of the vintage 1933 were no longer issued and should be melted down to two copies of the end of 1934. These two of the National Coin Collection were transferred and are now in the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC issued. Besides these two coins but escaped further destruction. The Magistrates George McCann who is alleged to have evaded and resells these coins. Presumably he has exchanged before melting some coins unnoticed against pieces of older vintages. How many escaped the 1933er Double Eagle in this way, the destruction is unknown. At least nine specimens found on the jeweler Israel swiTT in Philadelphia their way into the hands of collectors.

Only by referring a reporter to the authorities became aware of their existence so that 1944 investigation by the United States Secret Service began. Within one year, seven of the stolen coins to ensure a further 1952. All eight coins were destroyed.

The Egyptian King Farouk, in 1944 a copy and requested the Treasury, an export permit. This was granted a few days before the announcement of the theft. The negotiations on the return of the coin have been greatly hampered by the Second World War and delayed by years. After the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952, large parts of his private possessions were auctioned; also the 1933 Double Eagle would be auctioned. The American government tried again for the return of the coin, which the Egyptian government wanted to approve. However, the coin disappeared before without a trace.

More than forty years later, during the arrest of the British coin dealer Stephen Fenton again 1933er Double Eagle discovered. Under oath, he testified that the coin came from the collection of King Farouk, but this could not be definitively proven. The charges against Stephen Fenton was dropped and then Fenton told the court a waiver of the right of ownership of the coin. In 2001 it was agreed to transfer ownership to the American government. At the same time the Ministry of Finance explained the coin to legal tender, making a sale was possible.

On 30 July 2002, the coin at Sotheby's in New York was sold to an unknown bidder. The highest bid was after about nine minutes at $ 6.6 million. Of these, one half to Stephen Fenton and one to the U.S. Treasury. In addition, the Treasury received $ 20, bringing the coin finally received the status of legal tender. Including buyer's premium is the coin with $ 7,590,020 the most expensive coin in the world, and so broke the previous auction record of $ 4,140,000 for a Draped Bust dollars by 1804.

In August 2005, the United States Secret Service announced that in September 2004, a further ten copies of the 1933er Double Eagle were discovered. They are originally from the estate of Israel swiTT and were handed over by one of his descendants to the authorities. Currently, the coins are held in Fort Knox. A sale like 2002 is not provided.

Description

The coin features on its front the American Goddess of Liberty "Lady Liberty". In her right hand she holds a torch and in the left an olive branch. In the inscription " LIBERTY " is (English: Freedom). Links below the Capitol in Washington and the rising sun can be seen. The sun's rays take up a large part of the background. The year of issue can be found on the right side and below the symbol of the designer Augustus Saint -Gaudens. The mint mark (D for Denver or S for San Francisco) is positioned above the year. If there is no mint mark present, the coin was minted in Philadelphia. Surrounded is the subject of 46 ( 1912: 48) stars as a symbol for the then 46 or 48 states.

The reverse shows a flying bald eagle above the rising sun. Again, the sun's rays take back a large part of the background. At the top, there are the country name "UNITED STATES • OF • AMERICA • " and below the face value " TWENTY DOLLARS • ". The motto "IN GOD • • • WE TRUST" (English: In God We Trust ) is found above the rising sun.

The edge carries the second motto of the United States, " E PLURIBUS UNUM " (Latin: One of many ) and thirteen stars symbolizing the thirteen founding states of the USA. Furthermore, three vertical lines are on the edge, resulting in shaping the raised edge lettering. The elements of the rims are distributed as follows:

The technical parameters were not changed compared to the Liberty Head Double Eagle. The coins have a diameter of 34.1 mm and a thickness of 2.0 mm. It weighs 33.43 grams and has a fineness of 900 /1000 sec. Was alloyed with copper.

Vintages and conditions

The following list contains all embossed vintages and their support. (English: Proof) In the last column the requirements of the coins in proof are listed. These were minted only in Philadelphia. The vintages marked with an asterisk have the motto "In God We Trust" is not on.

2009 Double Eagle

2009 marked the United States Mint, a new edition of the Double Eagle with the Saint -Gaudens originally planned high relief. The coin has a diameter of 27 mm and a thickness of 4 mm and is made of an ounce of fine gold. The support was not limited and depended on the order quantity. A total of 115 178 pieces were minted. The sale price was adjusted to the current price of gold. On the first issue, January 22, 2009 the cost of a $ 1,239 coin. The motif was changed from the original in some details. On the front of the Capitol is now displayed significantly smaller and the number of stars increased to 50 The elements of the edge lettering were taken, but in a new order, so that the edge now looks like this: