|
|
 |
|
| Passion Investments: Coins |
Heads or Tales
Catherine Curan
10/01/2005
|
One of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ most alluring works of art depicts a proud
Lady Liberty holding aloft a torch of freedom. The sculpture stands 34
millimeters high.
 | | AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDEN’S 1933 $20 double eagle gold piece holds the record
for the highest price paid for a rare coin: $7.59 million. |
Saint-Gaudens created this miniscule masterpiece at the
behest of his friend, President Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted to elevate the
design of American currency to the sophistication that ancient Greek coins
achieved. So in 1905, the artist who reinvigorated American sculpture during the
gilded age set about producing a $20 gold piece. Inspired by the Greek ideal,
the design featured a high-relief figure draped in classical
robes.
Twenty-eight years later, the next President Roosevelt halted
production when he took the country off the gold standard to ease the financial
woes of the Great Depression. He asked all Americans to exchange their gold
coins for paper money, so the Saint-Gaudens coins struck that year should have
been recalled and melted down. Naturally, a handful survived. Today, Liberty
still looks ready to stride right off the surface of this 1933 specimen.
She
would not get far if she tried. Stored in a high-security bulletproof glass
case, the coin is displayed in an American Numismatic Society exhibit at the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, on loan from the anonymous buyer who paid the
highest price yet recorded for a rare coin: $7.59 million.
Basketball legend
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar counts a 1907 Saint-Gaudens gold coin as among the favorites
in his collection, which he began building seriously last December after reading
Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton. “Just seeing how gold fit in with
our economic system, how that all originated and the importance of gold . . . I
realized there are many opportunities to own a bit of history and make a sound
economic investment.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
