1907 Ultra High Relief St Gaudens
Double Eagle Gold Coin
The original design by Augustus St Gaudens for the $20 face value gold double eagle coin was an ultra high relief beauty that proved to be nearly impossible for banks to stack. Consequently these exceedingly rare coins therefore had a very limited mintage making them some of the most valuable coins in the world.
However, there is one example of the 1907 Ultra High Relief gold coin that stands far and above the rest because of its nearly flawless condition even after more than 100 years. This one coin is graded by PCGS at PR69 and it is important to note that no other coin in the world has this grade. Not one. it is truly unique amongst collectible coins in he entire world.
These are exquisetly beautiful coins and what gives them their beauty is the ultra high relief design. The minting of these coins was a laborious process that took 7 individual strikings with a heating and then cooling process including a weak nitric acid bath between each strike. This process resulted in making the surface of the 1907 Ultra High relief gold coin almost pure gold. It also gives the coin a beautiful luster.
But even this prime example of American coinage goes beyond the process and the mechanics of coin making because there honestly is no other coin in the world such as this one. Experts who have examined this specimen state there are amazingly no contact marks on the surface of this coin. This means that no other coins have even come into contact with this unique example, nor has it been dropped, placed in someone's pocket or had anything that may have scratched the coin come into contact with it.
If it were not for an almost invisible speck of copper on the reverse side near the rim left over from the manufacturing process, this would be an absolutely flawless coin.
This coin was the first to break the price barrier of $200,000 in a sale in 1974 and the only other coin in the world that can touch it in terms of value is the 1933 St Gaudens Double Eagle that sold for over $7.6 million in 2002. The 1907 Ultra High Relief St Gaudens Double Eagle is currently valued at $5 million.