St. Gaudens Double Eagle
The St. Gaudens Double Eagle is an American gold coin that was minted between 1907 and 1933. The $ 20 coin is named after its designer, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens . The 1933 issue is one of the most expensive coins in the world, with a collector's value of $ 7.6 million.
history
At the beginning of the 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt began transforming American gold coins. For this he commissioned the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Since Saint-Gaudens died in 1907, only the designs for the $ 10 and $ 20 coins were completed.
In his designs, he was guided by many coins and medals, including ancient Greek coins and medals with a high relief. The finished designs for the Double Eagle show the American goddess of freedom "Lady Liberty" on the front, a flying bald eagle on the back and have the high relief favored by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
The Philadelphia Mint staff recognized the problems associated with minting a high relief, but at President Roosevelt's insistence, had to make a few sample copies. The exact number is not known, figures vary between 19 and 24. As expected, the production of the test pieces turned out to be very problematic. Although a special minting machine was used for medals, the coins had to be minted twelve more times until all the details were visible.
One proposal to solve the problem has been to decrease the diameter and increase the thickness. Thirteen smaller diameter samples were then made. Since the diameter could only be changed with the approval of Congress, this plan was rejected and the specimens were melted down except for two specimens, which are now in the mint's archive.
Eventually the designs were revised and the height of the relief was reduced. However, the minting proved to be problematic, so that after around 12,000 coins were minted, it was finally switched to a flat relief. At the same time, the Roman numerals in the year were replaced by Arabic ones.
After some complaints from the population, the slogan “In God We Trust” was added to the reverse of the coins in mid-1908.
In 1912 the motif was changed one last time. With the accession of New Mexico and Arizona to the Union, the number of states increased from 46 to 48. Therefore, the number of stars on the front also had to be increased to 48. The additional stars are at the bottom right.
The end for the St. Gaudens Double Eagle came with the Great Depression at the beginning of the 1930s. Circumstances forced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to take special measures. With Executive Order 6102, private gold ownership was banned, with the exception of jewelry and collector coins (see gold ban ). All other privately owned gold holdings had to be returned to collection points at a fixed price of $ 20.67 per troy ounce (31.1 g). In this way, many of these coins were lost. Especially the last years from 1927 onwards are very rare these days and sought after by collectors. The 1933 vintage was not issued at all and was melted down at the end of 1934.
1933 double eagle
Due to the prohibition of gold ownership, the coins of the year 1933 that had already been minted were no longer issued and were to be melted down to two copies at the end of 1934. These two were transferred to the National Coin Collection and are now on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC . In addition to these two coins, others escaped destruction. Mint official George McCann is suspected of evading and reselling these coins. Before the meltdown he presumably exchanged some coins for pieces of older years without being noticed. How many of the 1933 Double Eagles escaped destruction in this way is unknown. At least nine specimens found their way into the hands of collectors through the Israel Switt jeweler in Philadelphia.
It was only through a reporter's tip that the authorities became aware of its existence, so that an investigation by the United States Secret Service began in 1944 . Seven of the stolen coins were seized within a year, and another in 1952. All eight coins were destroyed.
The Egyptian King Faruq bought a copy in 1944 and applied to the Ministry of Finance for an export permit. This was issued a few days before the theft became known. The negotiations about the return of the coin were severely hampered by the Second World War and delayed for years. After the fall of King Faruq in 1952, large parts of his private property were publicly auctioned; the 1933 Double Eagle was also to be auctioned. The American government tried again to have the coin returned, which the Egyptian government wanted to approve. However, the coin disappeared without a trace beforehand.
More than forty years later, a 1933 Double Eagle was discovered when the British coin dealer Stephen Fenton was arrested. Under oath he stated that the coin came from the collection of King Faruq, but this could not be definitively proven. The charges against Stephen Fenton were then dropped and Fenton renounced the ownership of the coin in court. In 2001 it was agreed to transfer ownership to the American government. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance declared the coin to be legal tender, which enabled it to be sold.
On July 30, 2002, the coin was auctioned off at Sotheby’s in New York to an unknown bidder. The highest bid was $ 6.6 million after about nine minutes. Half of this went to Stephen Fenton and one half to the US Treasury. In addition, the Treasury received $ 20, which finally gave the coin the status of legal tender. Including the premium, the coin is the most expensive coin in the world at $ 7,590,020, breaking the previous auction record of $ 4.14 million for a draped bust dollar from 1804.
In August 2005, the United States Secret Service announced that another ten specimens of the 1933 Double Eagle had been discovered in September 2004. They originally belong to Israel Switt and were given to the authorities by one of his descendants. A sale like 2002 is not planned.
In April 2015, the 3rd United States Federal Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania upheld an appeal by the descendants of Israel Switt. The Langbord family, daughter-in-law Joan and angel children Roy and David, had sued for the return of the coins. In 2011, a Philadelphia jury ruled that Israel Switt had illegally acquired the coins. The coins were meanwhile in custody at the American mint US Mint in Washington DC.
description
The front of the coin shows the American goddess of freedom "Lady Liberty". She holds a torch in her right hand and an olive branch in her left. Above is the inscription "LIBERTY" (English: freedom ). At the bottom left is the Washington Capitol and the rising sun. 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 mintmark, the coin was minted in Philadelphia . The motif is surrounded by 46 (from 1912: 48) stars symbolizing the 46 and 48 states of that time.
The reverse shows a bald eagle flying over the rising sun. Again, the sun's rays take up a large part of the background. At the top is the country name "UNITED • STATES • OF • AMERICA" and below the nominal value "TWENTY • DOLLARS" . The motto " IN • GOD • WE • TRUST " (English: We trust in God ) can be found above the rising sun.
The edge bears the second motto of the United States " E PLURIBUS UNUM " (Latin: from many one ) as well as thirteen stars as a symbol for the thirteen founding states of the USA. There are also three vertical lines on the edge that are created when the raised edge writing is embossed. The elements of the border design are distributed as follows:
- | * * * * * * E | * PLURIBUS * | UNUM * * * * *
The technical parameters have not been changed compared to the Liberty Head Double Eagle. The coins have a diameter of 34.1 mm and a thickness of 2.41 mm. The weight is 33.43 g with a fineness of 900/1000. It was alloyed with copper.
Years and editions
The following list contains all coined volumes and their edition. In the last column the requirements of the coins are proof (ger .: Proof) listed. These were minted exclusively in Philadelphia. The vintages marked with an asterisk do not yet have the motto “In God We Trust”.
| year | Philadelphia | Denver | San Francisco | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1907 * | 372.917 | 0 | 0 | 40-50 |
| 1908 * | 4,271,551 | 663,750 | 0 | 0 |
| 1908 | 156.258 | 349,500 | 22,000 | 101 |
| 1909 | 161.215 | 52,500 | 2,774,925 | 67 |
| 1910 | 482,000 | 429,000 | 2,128,250 | 167 |
| 1911 | 197,250 | 846,500 | 775.750 | 100 |
| 1912 | 149,750 | 0 | 0 | 74 |
| 1913 | 168,780 | 393,500 | 34,000 | 58 |
| 1914 | 95,250 | 453,000 | 1,498,000 | 70 |
| 1915 | 152,000 | 0 | 567,500 | 50 |
| 1916 | 0 | 0 | 796,000 | 0 |
| 1920 | 228,250 | 0 | 558,000 | 0 |
| 1921 | 528,500 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1,375,500 | 0 | 2,658,000 | 0 |
| 1923 | 566,000 | 1,702,250 | 0 | 0 |
| 1924 | 4,323,500 | 3,049,500 | 2,927,500 | 0 |
| 1925 | 2,831,750 | 2,938,500 | 3,776,500 | 0 |
| 1926 | 816.750 | 481,000 | 2,041,500 | 0 |
| 1927 | 2,946,750 | 180,000 | 3,107,000 | 0 |
| 1928 | 8,816,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1929 | 1,779,750 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1930 | 0 | 0 | 74,000 | 0 |
| 1931 | 2,938,250 | 106,500 | 0 | 0 |
| 1932 | 1,101,750 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1933 | 445,500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2009 Double Eagle
In 2009 the United States Mint coined a new edition of the Double Eagle with the high relief originally planned by Saint-Gaudens. The coin has a diameter of 27 mm and a thickness of 4 mm and is made from one ounce of fine gold. The edition was not limited and was based on the order quantity. A total of 115,178 pieces were minted. The sales price has been adjusted to the current gold rate. On the first day of issue, January 22, 2009, a coin cost $ 1,239. The motif has been changed in some details compared to the original. On the front, the capitol is now shown much smaller and the number of stars increased to 50. The elements of the marginal writing were adopted, but in a new order so that the margin now looks like this:
- | E * P * L * U * | R * I * B * U * S | * U * N * U * M *
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 1907 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle - Ultra-High Relief (English)
- ↑ 1804 Draped Bust Dollar "The Watters-Childs Specimen" (English)
- ↑ United States Mint Recovers 10 Famed Double Eagles (English)
- ↑ US government has to return confiscated gold coins
- ↑ volumes and editions of the St. Gaudens Double Eagle (English)
- ↑ 2009 Ultra High Relief Gold Coin ( English ) The United States Mint. Retrieved December 3, 2012.