1907 $20 High Relief, Wire Edge MS63 认证号10839313, PCGS号9135

Slight leg flatness from stacking or would be MS64. High Reliefs were struck in 3 blows of the dies on a medal press in the Philadelphia Mint. The first two strikings were made utilizing a plain collar, presumably to prevent the raised edge lettering from being disfigured from successive strikings. It was only during the third striking that the plain collar was replaced by the lettered collar to produce a complete High Relief Double Eagle with Lettered Edge. Due to the work-hardening of metal that results from the pressures of the striking process, the as yet incomplete coin was removed from the press after the first and second strikings to be annealed, or softened by heating. It is fairly well known that Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the "American Michelangelo," based his design for the double eagle on the winged goddess of Victory that forms part of the General William Tecumseh Sherman statue at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in New York City. The winged goddess of Victory leads Sherman's horse. She wears a headdress and strides purposefully forward, her right arm stretched out before her, giving the entire monument a rhythmic, driving propulsion. Her eyes are depthless blanks, her expression simultaneously tragic and inscrutable. Similar to the traditional olive sprig in Liberty's left hand on the coin, Victory bears a palm branch in her left hand. One of Saint-Gaudens' great gifts--one that he shared with Michelangelo--was to be able to sculpt figures on a heroic scale, and yet imbue them with personality in the most human dimensions. It is perhaps less well known that Saint-Gaudens based the statue of Victory on the likeness of his mistress, Davida Clark. The General Sherman Monument, commissioned by the New York Chamber of Commerce in 1892, was the last large-scale work of Saint-Gaudens' cancer-shortened life. The final completed monument was installed in 1903. In the evolution from winged Victory to wingless Liberty, Saint-Gaudens managed to strip the nonessential from the female figure, while maintaining both her goddesslike grandeur and heroism as well as her powerfully human femininity. Removal of the wings and headdress allowed room for the de rigueur inscription above, focused more attention on the center of the coin, permitted Liberty's hair to blow freely in the breeze, and made more space beneath for the Capitol building.

David Akers (1975/88)

The 1907 High Relief Double Eagle is, in my opinion, the most beautiful coin the United States ever issued for normal circulation. Unfortunately, it was not as practical as it was beautiful; the high relief of the standing figure of Liberty and the eagle made the coin impossible to stack properly and thus unpopular and unsuitable for commercial purposes. Minting was also impractical since it reportedly required five blows of the minting press to fully bring up the design making high speed, mass production impossible.

Of the 11,250 High Reliefs minted, it is my estimate that 2/3 to 3/4 of this total were the Wire Rim variety since the Flat Rim is at least two to three times as rare as the Wire Rim. The difference between the two varieties was unintentional, i.e. the Mint did not purposely set out to make one variety and then alter the design to make a second variety. (In this regard, the Wire Rim and Flat Rim Double Eagles are not analogous to the Wire Edge and Rolled Edge Eagles which were totally different coins.) The Wire Rim and Flat Rim Double Eagle varieties resulted from the use of different collars. in the case of the Wire Rim variety, the collar was not sufficiently tight and the pressure of the repeated blows forced metal up where the edge of the coin meets the collar to form a very thin wire rim. On most Wire Rims, this raised metal encircles the whole coin, both obverse and reverse, while on the Flat Rim variety, the edge is flat, if not beveled.

The 1907 High relief is much more common than its low mintage (the lowest of the entre Saint-Gaudens series) would imply. Obviously, many specimens were saved due to both the coins' novelty and their beauty. Most existing High Reliefs (both Wire Rim and Flat Rim varieties) are uncirculated and many of them are gem and even superb quality. The circulated examples are almost always high grade and many, if not most, received their wear from being used as jewelry or pocket pieces rather than from commercial use. The plentiful auction records for the Wire Rim would seem to indicate that it is one of the half dozen most common issues in the entire series. In my view, it is not that common, but I do think that one interesting claim can be made for it, namely the 1907 Wire Rim High Relief is the highest priced U.S. coin for its rarity. (The 1895 Proof Morgan Dollar and 1879 Flowing Hair Stella are two other candidates for this distinction, but I think the High Relief is the easy winner with respect to ratio of its high price to low rarity.)

All High Reliefs were struck a minimum of three to five times , so it is not surprising that they are always fully struck. Most specimens are very frosty but many of them have a very satiny texture and often display a myriad of raised die swirls and scratches in the fields. Lustre is always excellent and the color is most often a light to medium greenish gold. A few specimens have a coppery hue, however.