1924 $20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle NGC MS65 (CAC)

Because of the vast quantities of coins certified by the major grading companies, this spectacular gem 1924 Saint (with the desirable green CAC sticker!) is being offered by AUCM at an affordable price. Jeff Garrett writes, "Much of Europe was in financial distress around this time [1924] and large quantities of this [date] were sent overseas for international banking transactions. Many sat there for decades and large numbers continue to find their way back to the United States each year.... the abundance of coins available makes this a great candidate for a type coin of the issue." NGC has graded 38,578 as MS65 with 6,794 finer. In CAC there are 1,974 graded MS65 with 775 finer. Collectors Universe prices MS65 as $3,000.00.

President Theodore Roosevelt honored his friend Augustus Saint-Gaudens in a memorial speech after the artist's passing.

After his death, Theodore Roosevelt honored Augustus Saint-Gaudens as an artist and friend by saying in a 1908 memorial speech that his double eagle and eagle were “more beautiful than any coins since the days of the Greeks, and they achieve their striking beauty because Saint-Gaudens not only possessed a perfect mastery in the physical address of his craft, but also a daring and original imagination.”

In a thank you letter to Roosevelt, Saint-Gaudens’ widow, Augusta, wrote, “Such a tribute from you would, I know, have meant much to him especially the recognition of his labor on the coins into which he put his whole heart. Your presence with Mrs. Roosevelt gave to the memorial a character and meaning which without you it could not have happened and I hardly know how to thank you both for this expression of your friendliness now that he is gone.”