1927 $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle, NGC MS65. This radiant gem 1927 $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagle shimmers with bright mint luster. Except for one or two minor marks mentioned for the sake of accuracy, the surfaces are delightfully clean and free of the bag marks that plague later dated uncirculated coins in this series. Aside from slight softness on some feathers on the reverse, the strike is full.

After Saint-Gaudens’ death from stomach cancer in August of 1907, Engraver Charles Barber made a copy of the double eagle dies in “regular” relief with Arabic numerals for the date. From the beginning Barber advocated low relief because of “practical” considerations of banking and commerce. Both President Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens opposed him in these ideas. However, Barber maintained his point of view and ultimately prevailed.

Originally Saint-Gaudens had omitted the motto IN GOD WE TRUST because of President Theodore Roosevelt’s direct order. Roosevelt was a religious person who felt that it was blasphemous to have the deity’s name on a coin that might be used for venal or other immoral purposes. A coin could be dropped and stepped on, or used for gambling, prostitution, or worse. Although Roosevelt’s preference was more in keeping with the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state, public pressure enabled Barber to add it in 1908.

In 1933 President Franklin Roosevelt ordered that all gold coinage cease and that gold coins be withdrawn from circulation. He ended what his cousin Teddy had begun.

Because it is a common date with a high mintage, the 1927 double eagle is an excellent choice for a gem mint state type set of U.S. coins or a type set of gold coins.