The $20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle, produced from 1907 to 1933, is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful coins ever produced in the United States. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of America's greatest sculptors, to redesign America's $10 and $20 gold coins. Saint-Gaudens' designs were patterned after the coinage of ancient Greece. The design of the obverse of the Double Eagle shows a flowing full-length figure of Liberty holding a torch in one hand and an olive branch in the other. Rays of sunlight burst from the bottom of the design. 46 stars ring the coin, representing the states in the union at the time. On the reverse of the coin, an eagle flies above a sun whose rays extend upward. The word LIBERTY appears on the front of the coin, in a semi-circle between the Liberty figure and the stars at the edge of the coin. The reverse of the coin originally contained only the phrases UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and TWENTY DOLLARS. E PLURIBUS UNUM was placed along the outer edge of the coin, and the phrase "In God We Trust" was intentionally omitted. The phrase appears just above the sun in coins minted from late 1908 on, at the insistence of Congress. As collectibles, Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles are highly prized, and rather expensive. As an anomalous example of just how expensive a coin can be, the single surviving Double Eagle from 1933 was sold at auction by the US Government for over $7 million, making it the most valuable gold coin in the world.
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