1911-D $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle PCGS MS66

Here’s a dramatic piece to add to your collection. The Saint is considered to be the most beautiful of all U.S. coin designs. And here’s your opportunity to acquire a stunning gem Saint! Jeff Garrett writes, "The 1911–D is among the most plentiful Double Eagle of this time period  .... Most of the 1911–D Double Eagles seen are well struck with sometimes deep green–gold colorations." PCGS has graded 658 in MS66, with 72 finer. Collectors Universe gives this issue a price of $8,250.00 in MS66.

"You know, Saint-Gaudens, this is my pet crime," President Theodore Roosevelt confided to the famed sculptor-medalist. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Wrote President Theodore Roosevelt to Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Leslie Mortier Shaw on December 27, 1904, “I think our coinage is artistically of atrocious hideousness. Would it be possible, without asking permission of Congress, to employ a man like Saint-Gaudens to give a coinage that would have some beauty?”

Two weeks later, on the evening of January 12,1905, acclaimed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens was in the White House enjoying a glass of wine before dining with Roosevelt and Shaw. The two men—the president and the artist—had an enthusiastic, animated conversation about the beauty of high-relief Greek coins.

Dinner saw the three men discussing a scheme for redesigning the cent, the eagle (gold $10) and the double eagle (gold $20), all behind the back of U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber. “I would have the Mint stamp modern versions of those Greek coins in spite of itself,” said Roosevelt, if the honored sculptor would design them. “You know, Saint-Gaudens, this is my pet crime.” Saint-Gaudens' double eagle saw its debut in 1907.