Liberty’s robe harkens back to our roots as a republic based on the ideals of ancient Greece and Rome. On the obverse, Saint-Gaudens shows Liberty, personified by a statuesque woman striding powerfully forward. and perhaps the world - the 1907 $20 gold piece, also known as the Double Eagle. What emerged has been called the most beautiful coin ever minted in the U.S. In 1905, President Roosevelt personally invited Saint-Gaudens to redesign American coinage, specifically U.S. Saint-Gaudens was a renowned sculptor and an artist who shared the President’s vision for expressing America’s national identity visually through art. It was this sense of purpose that led Roosevelt to choose Augustus Saint- Gaudens to redesign America’s coins. Coins were one of the most visible, tangible representations of a country. And its coins should reflect that, Roosevelt felt. The United States of America, a bold experiment in liberty and representative democracy, had not only succeeded, it had come of age. He thought the coins of that era were unattractive and wanted them to instead embody our national identity and growing preeminence on the world stage.

In the early 1900’s President Theodore Roosevelt called for a “renaissance” in American coinage.

Courtesy of Dartmouth College Library, Rauner Special Collections Library.