Possible reason there were no Saint-Gaudens half eagles struck 0

[RWB]

This letter, written long before William Bigelow became involved in half eagle coin design, suggests that no Saint-Gaudens half eagles were struck for circulation because of Congress' debate about requiring "In God We Trust" on the new coin designs.

[Zebo]

On 3/10/2024 at 12:24 PM, RWB said:

This letter, written long before William Bigelow became involved in half eagle coin design, suggests that no Saint-Gaudens half eagles were struck for circulation because of Congress' debate about requiring "In God We Trust" on the new coin designs.

Inaction is often the better option.

[GoldFinger1969]

Do we have an estimate of how long they suspended work ?  Are we talking weeks....months....what ?

[Henri Charriere]

IGWT had appeared on smaller coins for decades at this juncture. The Two-Cent piece first minted in 1864, bore the motto first. It had a diameter of 23 mm. The Lincoln Head cent, likely in design stage in 1908, had a diameter of 19.05 mm and has sported this motto since 1909, a year after the letter was written, and presumably without complication. The Half-Eagle, minted since 1839, had a 21.6 mm diameter [only 6/10 mm larger than a French 20-franc gold rooster].

If a Lincoln Head, with a smaller diameter than the Half-Eagle, could be rendered with the motto, I fail to see why placing it on the Half-Eagle would have presented a problem. My .

[RWB]

On 3/28/2024 at 9:55 PM, GoldFinger1969 said:

Do we have an estimate of how long they suspended work ?  Are we talking weeks....months....what ?

Hubs and dies were made in December 1907, and patterns struck in January 1908. Then everything was suspended until Congress passed the IGWT bill, and TR decided to try Bigelow's goofy (and false) sunken relief idea --- about 3 months delay. (Lettering the edge was not so big a deal as often assumed. US Mint had experience lettering Mexican coinage.)

Edited March 29 by RWB
Spelling

[zadok]

On 3/29/2024 at 12:10 PM, RWB said:

Hubs and dies were made in December 1907, and patterns struck in January 1908. Then everything was suspended until Congress passed the IGWT bill, and TR decided to try Bigelow's goofy (and false) sunken relief idea --- about 3 months delay. (Lettering the edge was no sop big a deal as often assumed. US Mint had expetrience lettering Mexican coinage.

...im checking my webster as we speak....

[Henri Charriere]

Nothing I have read suggests a reason why the G-G Half-Eagle, as proposed, was abandoned in favor of the the recessed Indian. The matter under discussion, concerned, per Treasury letter dated Jan. 18, 1908, the "replacement" of IGWT, suggesting substitution.

The gold half eagle design had undergone a number of changes in design, weight and specifications, particularly size.  When introduced in 1795, and over a succession of years, the diameter of the coins shrank from 25 to 23.8 to 22.5 and finally 21.6 mm with the introduction of the Indian. However, seeing as how the designer of the contemporary 1909 Lincoln cent was able to accommodate the motto IGWT within a diameter of 19 mm, I am not persuaded inclusion of the motto had anything to do with jettisoning the S-G design.

[RWB]

On 3/29/2024 at 9:34 PM, Henri Charriere said:

I am not persuaded inclusion of the motto had anything to do with jettisoning the S-G design.

I should have written,  "everything was suspended until Congress acted on the IGWT bill." Meaning that if the bill passed the Mint would have to use a version with IGWT. Instead of wasting time, the Mint merely waited for a decision before producing S-G half and quarter eagles. During this interval Bigelow made poorly-informed sales pitch about using a real Native American and a sunken relief. (This is according to documents, not imagination.)

[GoldFinger1969]

I wonder if there was any consideration to using the same $20 DE design for the Eagle, Half Eagle, etc. ?  

Edited April 18 by GoldFinger1969

[RWB]

The original plan was to use one design for all gold denominations and a separate one for the cent. All of this is explained and illustrated in RAC 1905-1908.

TR liked the cent obverse and wanted it tested on the DE - one pattern piece known. SG convinced him to keep the striding Liberty figure on the DE and use the Cent obv, with a rather silly Native American chief's headress added, on the Eagle as ordered by TR. (TR's stint as a cattle rancher in the Dakotas might have produced a fetish for native headdresses.) Both the striding and portrait Liberty were adapted from the SG's Sherman Memorial in NYC - just with individual names/titles.

At beginning of 1908 the adopted DE design was to be used for HE and QE coins. (Edge lettering was not really a problem on these smaller coins. The Philadelphia Mint was doing that on Mexican 10-peso gold pieces.)