1907 High Relief Double Eagle

The 1907 High Relief Double Eagle is a landmark U.S. gold coin, the original form of Augustus Saint-Gaudens' famous double eagle design commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt to beautify American coinage. Its sculptural, deeply modeled relief made it a technical challenge to strike and impractical for everyday mass production, so only a limited number of coins were made before the design was modified to a lower relief for regular circulation.

Collectors and art historians alike regard it as one of the most beautiful coins ever produced by the U.S. Mint, and it is frequently cited as the pinnacle of American gold coinage of the era. The relief is so pronounced that the coin has a noticeably three-dimensional, almost medallic quality compared to ordinary circulating coinage.

Because of its low mintage relative to other double eagles and its exceptional artistic merit, it is one of the most desired 20th-century U.S. gold coins among type collectors, even though it is not an extreme rarity in absolute numbers.

President Theodore Roosevelt, dissatisfied with the artistic quality of American coinage, personally recruited the celebrated sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens around 1905 to redesign the nation's gold coins. Saint-Gaudens created an obverse depicting a full-length figure of Liberty striding forward with a torch and olive branch, and a reverse showing a flying eagle above a rising sun, both rendered in extremely high relief reminiscent of ancient Greek coinage that Roosevelt admired.

The high relief proved extremely difficult to strike using the Mint's standard production process, requiring multiple blows from the press and a slower medal-striking process rather than routine coinage. Because of this, only a limited number of high-relief coins were produced for circulation in 1907 before the Mint, under practical pressure, lowered the relief for the ongoing regular-issue double eagles that followed.

Saint-Gaudens died in 1907, shortly after the coin's release, so the high relief version stands as one of his final major works and a lasting symbol of the "golden age" of American coin design in the early 20th century.

The obverse depicts a full-length figure of Liberty striding forward on a rocky outcrop, holding a torch aloft in one hand and an olive branch in the other, with the U.S. Capitol building faintly visible in the background and rays of sunlight behind her; the date appears in Roman numerals as MCMVII.

The reverse shows an eagle in flight above a radiant sun, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA arched above and TWENTY DOLLARS below.

The defining identification feature is the coin's dramatic, sculptural high relief: the design elements stand noticeably higher off the field than on any later double eagle, giving the coin a rounded, almost domed appearance when viewed edge-on. The edge bears raised lettering reading E PLURIBUS UNUM with stars, rather than the plain reeded edge of later double eagles. Because of the deep relief, the coin does not stack well, a practical issue that contributed to the design being lowered for regular production.

The 1907 High Relief Double Eagle is a perennial favorite among collectors of American gold, prized as much for its artistic merit as its historical significance, and it routinely commands strong prices even in circulated grades.

Because the coin was essentially never meant for hard circulation and many examples were saved as a novelty from the start, presentable examples are more available than one might expect for a coin of its status, though truly high-grade, well-struck specimens with sharp details remain a step up in price.

Values for average circulated to lower mint-state examples generally run from the low to mid five figures, while exceptional gem-quality specimens can bring considerably more at auction; as with all classic gold, sharpness of strike, luster, and eye appeal matter greatly to value.