1924 $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle PCGS MS66 (CAC)

Here's a simply gorgeous example of what is considered our most beautiful coin. It is a result of the collaboration between Theodore Roosevelt and Augustus Saint-Gaudens. PCGS graded 10,250 in MS66, with 471 finer. In CAC, there are 717 in MS66 with 29 finer.

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?”

"You know, Saint-Gaudens," said President Theodore Roosevelt, "this is my pet crime."

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.