Heritage World Coin Auctions
ANA Signature US Coin Sale 1258 2-6 Aug 2017
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High Relief Double Eagles
1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS62 PCGS. The three-dimensional appearance of High Relief twenties came about because of how Augustus Saint-Gaudens thought. As the foremost sculptor in America in the late 19th-century, he imagined his commissions in three dimensions, rather than in the lower relief confines of coinage. When he thought of coins and medals his point of reference were the medals of Pisanello and the high relief coins of ancient Greece. It was this mode of thinking that brought him into conflict with Mint personnel who viewed coinage not as art, but rather commercial items that were produced in mass quantities. After Saint-Gaudens death in early August 1907, presidential "encouragement" was required to produce High Relief twenties. This is an attractive example of that short-lived experiment, a coin that displays bright surfaces and a thin layer of soft satin mint luster. A few light abrasions are scattered across each side of this fully struck piece.
HID02901242017
1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Rim MS62 PCGS. The three-dimensional appearance of High Relief twenties came about because of how Augustus Saint-Gaudens thought. As the foremost sculptor in America in the late 19th-century, he imagined his commissions in three dimensions, rather than in the lower relief confines of coinage. When he thought of coins and medals his point of reference were the medals of Pisanello and the high relief coins of ancient Greece. It was this mode of thinking that brought him into conflict with Mint personnel who viewed coinage not as art, but rather commercial items that were produced in mass quantities. After Saint-Gaudens death in early August 1907, presidential "encouragement" was required to produce High Relief twenties. This is an attractive example of that short-lived experiment, a coin that displays bright surfaces and a thin layer of soft satin mint luster. A few light abrasions are scattered across each side of this fully struck piece.
HID02901242017