Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle

1907–1933

Struck at President Theodore Roosevelt's direct request to make "the most beautiful coin" in American history, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens' $20 gold piece shows a full-length Liberty striding forward with a torch and olive branch, an eagle in flight on the reverse. Nearly a full troy ounce of gold, it was struck until the 1933 gold recall ended US gold coinage for circulation -- making the 1933 issue, almost entirely melted before release, one of the most famous and legally complicated rarities in the world.