1907 $20 St Gaudens Gold High Relief Wire Rim MS-63 NGC

The St. Gaudens High Relief is considered by many to be the most beautiful of all U.S. coins. Designed by August Saint-Gaudens, thus its name, was struck for a short period of time in 1907. Augustus Saint-Gaudens' original double eagle designs were intended for a coin of sculptural relief, similar to that imparted upon ancient Greek coinage, but the multiple strikes needed to bring up the designs proved impractical for mass production, so the relief was lowered considerably after little more than 11,000 pieces were struck. Many High Relief survivors exhibit a wire rim, something that was viewed as a defect by the mint; the raised lip around the rim was inadvertently created by metal being forced between the collar and the die face upon striking, a problem not helped by multiple impressions from the dies.