20 Dollars, Ultra High Relief Pattern, United States, 1907

Object Details

Description (Brief): One (1) 20 dollar coin, ultra high relief pattern; United States, 1907; Obverse Image: Full-length Liberty holding a torch in her right hand and olive branch in left. Capitol Dome in lower left; rays of sun in background; stars around rim.; Obverse Text: LIBERTY / MCMVII; Reverse Image: Eagle flying through rays of sun.; Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TWENTY DOLLARS; Edge: E PLURIBUS UNUM divided by stars.
Description: Less than two dozen of these coins were struck. This kind of relief was never intended for a circulating coin, because it took nearly a dozen passes through the press to achieve. We should instead see these marvelous coins as testimony to the human spirit and to human curiosity: just how much relief could you obtain, and how long would it take to create it?; This ultra high relief twenty has pedigree as well as beauty in its favor. Presdient Theodore Roosevelt gave it to his daughter as a Christmas present in 1907. Augustus Saint-Gaudens had presented it to the president, and it may have been the first piece struck. Roosevelt's daughter donated this coin to the Smithsonian in 1961.; [reference no. Judd 1778]
Location: Currently not on view

1907

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National Museum of American History

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-b578-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa