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FUN Signature US Coin Sale 1251 4-6 & 8-9 Jan 2017
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High Relief Double Eagles
1907 $20 High Relief, Flat Rim, MS66 NGC. The works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and one of his major influences, Italian painter and sculptor Pisanello, have much in common. Both men created lauded high relief designs that stood in stark contrast to the artistically dubious coinage of their respective eras. Sutherland's Art in Coinage: The Aesthetic of Money from Greece to Present (1954) described the medieval coinage of Pisanello's time as "the product of simple engravers who for the most part lacked both the vision of the artist and the modelling technique of the sculptor." The work of Charles Barber has been criticized in much the same way. Soon after the Barber coinage was issued in January 1892, the American Journal of Numismatics referred to the new dimes, quarters, and half dollars as "pleasing," but a far cry from "the ideal National coin." The Journal had resigned itself to the necessity and practicality of low relief coinage, though it maintained that only coins of high artistic integrity could truly capture the essence of America:
"It must be admitted that if coins should approach more nearly to medals in the matter of 'relief' they would rapidly lose their beauty and suffer serious loss by attrition. The American genius for invention has not yet turned itself in this direction to any extent, but those who have studied the problem most carefully, seem to have come to the conclusion that coins of the highest type of art will be struck for popular use about the same day that the quadrature of the circle shall be exactly accomplished."
While squaring the circle remains an impossibility, Saint-Gaudens was successful in transforming modern coin design by revolutionizing production techniques at the Mint and, like Pisanello's high relief medals, imparting a sense of artistry to contemporary American coinage. This is a splendid, high-grade example of Saint-Gaudens transformation of modern coinage. The three-dimensionality of the figures on both obverse and reverse are singular in the history of American coinage. The surfaces are bright and satiny with no obvious contact marks. The "fin" or wire rim that is seen on most High Reliefs is not present around the perimeter of the obverse; however, there is a slight presence around the reverse.
Selections From The Dr. James C. Kirk Collection of Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles.
1907 $20 High Relief, Flat Rim, MS66 NGC. The works of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and one of his major influences, Italian painter and sculptor Pisanello, have much in common. Both men created lauded high relief designs that stood in stark contrast to the artistically dubious coinage of their respective eras. Sutherland's Art in Coinage: The Aesthetic of Money from Greece to Present (1954) described the medieval coinage of Pisanello's time as "the product of simple engravers who for the most part lacked both the vision of the artist and the modelling technique of the sculptor." The work of Charles Barber has been criticized in much the same way. Soon after the Barber coinage was issued in January 1892, the American Journal of Numismatics referred to the new dimes, quarters, and half dollars as "pleasing," but a far cry from "the ideal National coin." The Journal had resigned itself to the necessity and practicality of low relief coinage, though it maintained that only coins of high artistic integrity could truly capture the essence of America:
"It must be admitted that if coins should approach more nearly to medals in the matter of 'relief' they would rapidly lose their beauty and suffer serious loss by attrition. The American genius for invention has not yet turned itself in this direction to any extent, but those who have studied the problem most carefully, seem to have come to the conclusion that coins of the highest type of art will be struck for popular use about the same day that the quadrature of the circle shall be exactly accomplished."
While squaring the circle remains an impossibility, Saint-Gaudens was successful in transforming modern coin design by revolutionizing production techniques at the Mint and, like Pisanello's high relief medals, imparting a sense of artistry to contemporary American coinage. This is a splendid, high-grade example of Saint-Gaudens transformation of modern coinage. The three-dimensionality of the figures on both obverse and reverse are singular in the history of American coinage. The surfaces are bright and satiny with no obvious contact marks. The "fin" or wire rim that is seen on most High Reliefs is not present around the perimeter of the obverse; however, there is a slight presence around the reverse.
Selections From The Dr. James C. Kirk Collection of Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles.