Coin Collecting for Kids: Week Nine

Coin of the Week/Amazing Artists: Saint-Gaudens Coinage

The long-standing Lady Liberty Design on the $20 double eagle was nice, everyone agreed. Why change it?

Theodore Roosevelt had a simple answer.

In Roosevelt’s mind, the coins of the ancient Greeks were more beautiful than any circulating coin of the U.S.A. He wanted to change that. So he needed a new coin designer. But they were not born every day, and so he began searching. Finally, he settled on the man who had designed his superb inaugural medal: Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin, Ireland on March 1st, 1848, to a French father and Irish mother. While he was very young, his family moved to New York, and at age 13, Saint-Gaudens was cutting cameos, stones with intricately carved designs on them. Saint-Gaudens traveled for his education, and today is well known as an artist and coin designer.

Roosevelt was pleased with his inaugural medal. It showed the President on the obverse, and a stunning picture of an eagle on the reverse. So Saint-Gaudens Was hired, and he created three wonderful coin designs (despite objections from chief engraver of the mint Charles E. Barber) for the cent, eagle ($10), and double eagle.

The cent features a portrait of Lady Liberty adorned with the branches of peace, with 13 stars to represent the 13 original colonies. The reverse sports a fasces, or bundle of sticks, to symbolize strength, and more branches of peace. (this never made it past the plaster mold stage)

The eagle features a similar portrait of Liberty, wearing an Indian Headdress, and on the reverse, (appropriately) an eagle. Notice the similarity between this eagle and the one on Roosevelt’s inaugural medal.

And of course, the famous Saint-Gaudens double eagle.

This coin was also re-created as a high-relief coin in 2009:

The obverse design is also on the Gold American Eagle:

And the legacy lives on.

Trial and Error: Goloid Dollar

In 1877, William Hubbell Patented Goloid, an alloy of Copper, Silver,and Gold, for use in coins, which was meant to appease both sides of the coin issue (Gold V.S. Silver). In the long run, it failed as an official coin alloy, because it was to easy for people to fake them by using only silver. But before it flopped, many great coin designs were created by William Barber and George T. Morgan for use on a goloid dollar. Goloid dollars are valuable today, so if you have one, I suggest that you get it authenticated.

Cool Comemoratives: The Lame Ones

Many beautiful commemorative coins were created between 1892 and 1954. But not all of them were noteworthy. The good commemoratives included celebrate-worthy events, like the 75th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, and the Oregon Trail Memorial. But others were just, well, for lack of a better word, pathetic. Such as:

The Cincinnati Music Center