We often talk about President Theodore Roosevelt’s impact on United States coinage before and during his presidency. Redesigns were a big part of the early 1900s and that stemmed from Roosevelt’s critical views of current U.S. coins and their need to reflect American progress and ideals using more artistic symbols and figures. It was his relationship with a specific sculptor that helped usher in these new changes and landed this next entry in our 100 Greatest United States Modern Coins blog series in the top 15. Following along with Whitman Publishing’s fourth edition of the publication, authors Jeff Garrett and Scott Schechter help guide us through the beginning, middle and ultimately the end of this stunning and very well-known modern coin.
#11 – 2009 (MMIX) Ultra High Relief Double Eagle
To help create a new standard for United States coinage, President Roosevelt would enlist the help of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Starting with the $20 gold piece in 1907, the design would be intended for high relief. However, the coins were impractical for production as the number of strikes it would take to create the desired effect in full detail was too much. In one instance, a test was struck for the high relief coin that would take the diameter from 34 to 27 millimeters while its thickness was doubled. For this change though, the Mint would need Congress to legislate the change to its specifications and so testing was suspended, and the coin would ultimately be issued in lower relief. Two of the coins struck in the reduced diameter were kept and are now in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.
In 2008, the desire for the coin to come back was led by Mint Director Edmund Moy. With the new modern capabilities of the Mint at the time, they announced the plan for the .9999 fine gold coin to be struck in double thick Ultra High Relief as part of the American Eagle Bullion Program. At noon on January 22, 2009, the coin went on sale with the coin retailing at $1,189. The recorded total mintage of the coin was 114,427.