Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle - Inception

Inception

On December 27, 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt, a personal friend of Saint-Gaudens, wrote to his Secretary of the Treasury, Leslie Mortier Shaw: "I think the state of 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 us a coinage which would have some beauty?" Roosevelt had Mint Director George E. Roberts write to Saint-Gaudens, who replied, "I am extremely interested in the matter of the new designs of the coinage ... it will I assure you give me great pleasure to assist in the procuring of good work." Roosevelt caused the Mint to engage Saint-Gaudens to redesign some of the coins which could be changed without the need for Congressional approval—the cent and the four gold coins. No U.S. coin had ever been designed by anyone other than a Mint employee.

In November 1905, Roosevelt wrote to Saint-Gaudens to enquire how the gold coinage was progressing. The President mentioned that he had been looking at gold coins of Ancient Greece, and that the most beautiful ones were in high relief. Roosevelt suggested that the new designs could be in high relief, with a high rim to protect them. Saint-Gaudens replied agreeing with Roosevelt, and proposing a design for the double eagle

some kind of a (possibly winged) figure of Liberty, striding forward as if on a mountaintop, holding aloft on one arm a shield bearing the stars and stripes with the word Liberty marked across the field; in the other hand perhaps a flaming torch, the drapery would be flowing in the breeze. My idea is to make it a living thing, and typical of progress.

On January 2, 1906, Saint-Gaudens wrote to Shaw, enquiring whether a high relief was practical on coins struck at the Mint. Shaw did not immediately reply, but instead met with Roosevelt, who wrote that there was no objection to have the coins, many of which would be stored in bank vaults and not circulated, "as artistic as the Greeks could desire". Roosevelt secured Shaw's support for the redesign, although as the President wrote to Saint-Gaudens, "of course he thinks I am a crack-brained lunatic on the subject". Shaw wrote to the sculptor on January 13, reproducing a copy of a letter from Roberts which warned, "the judgement of the authority of all countries is that modern coins must be of low relief", but as the President disagreed with Roberts's view, Saint-Gaudens could go ahead with a high-relief design. Numismatic historian Roger W. Burdette commented, "This is also one of those times when the compelling egos of artist and President might have paid greater attention to director Roberts' comments. By continuing with the design in a relief that was not coinable, Saint-Gaudens lost his best chance to explore the limits of artistry on circulation coinage."

Saint-Gaudens wrote to Roosevelt later in January, "Whatever I produce cannot be worse than the inanities now displayed on our coins." However, Saint-Gaudens foresaw resistance from Barber, who "has been in that institution since the foundation of the government, and will be found standing in its ruins". In May 1906, the sculptor wrote to Roosevelt that he had sent an assistant to Washington to obtain the technical details of the redesign, but "if you succeed in getting the best of the polite Mr. Barber or the others in charge, you will have done a greater work than putting through the Panama Canal. Nevertheless, I will stick at it, even unto death."

In May 1906, Saint-Gaudens wrote to Secretary Shaw, asking if there was any objection to having the date in Roman numerals. Shaw replied, "While we are making coins for the people of the United States, I think we should confine ourselves to the English language. I have reminded our architects that I will dismiss the first one who puts a V on a public building where a U is intended." However, Roosevelt overruled Shaw, and the sculptor proceeded with the use of Roman numerals.

Saint-Gaudens had intended a flying eagle design for the cent, but developed it for the twenty-dollar piece after learning that by law, an eagle was not to appear on the cent. Saint-Gaudens's health worsened through 1906, as the cancer which would kill him forced him to have his assistant, Henry Hering, deal with many of the details of the work. Saint-Gaudens had the models for the coins made in Paris, rather than at the Mint, in order to bypass any obstruction by the Mint. It was not until December 1906 that Roosevelt was finally given coin-sized models of Saint-Gaudens's work by Hering, and Roosevelt wrote to the ailing sculptor, "I have instructed the Director of the Mint that these dies are to be reproduced just as quickly as possible and just as they are. It is simply splendid. I suppose I shall be impeached for it by Congress, but I shall regard that as a very cheap payment!"

The obverse of Saint-Gaudens's final design shows a female figure of Liberty, who also represents victory. Saint-Gaudens based his design on the female figure he had designed in creating New York City's monument to General William Tecumseh Sherman, but the sculptor's ultimate inspiration was the Nike of Samothrace. The figure for the Sherman monument was modeled by Henrietta Anderson, one of the artist's favorite subjects. On the coin, Liberty holds a torch in one hand, representing enlightenment; an olive branch in the other, a symbol of peace. She strides across a rocky outcrop; behind her are the United States Capitol and the rays of the sun. The figure is surrounded by 46 stars, one for each of the states in 1907. The reverse is a side view of a flying eagle, seen slightly from below, with a rising sun and its rays behind it, complementing the obverse design. The edge bears the lettering "E Pluribus Unum". Saint-Gaudens felt he could not place a third line of text on the reverse without unbalancing the composition, and the obverse lacked room for the motto, so it was placed on the edge.