St. Gaudens 1906 double eagle design on a Liberia 2002 coin?

[Zoins]

I was just reading this month's COINAge magazine which has an Augustus St. Gaudens theme. It has a picture of a 1906 preliminary double eagle design (plaster?) that looks like it was turned into a 2002 Liberia $100 gold coin. What do you think? Is there any history on this design available? It would be interesting to hear the reasons for removing her wings on the final version.

 

 

[RWB]

Borrow a copy of "Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908" from the ANA Library. The book will tell you almost everything that is known about the June 1906 designs.

[BillJones]

Here are a couple points in case you don’t get your hands on the book.

 

• If you study the works of Augustus St. Gaudens, you will see a winged liberty similar to one that appears on this piece in many of his works. St. Gaudens seemed to love winged goddesses, and his original concept piece for the $20 gold had wings. I think he dropped the wings because it things appear to be too crowded. I think this Liberian coin illustrates that.

• Teddy Roosevelt had a “thing” for Indian headdresses. He thought that they were the crowns and symbols of America. As a result of that, he asked St. Gaudens to add or include headdresses in his designs. St. Gaudens’ first design that was eventually used for the $10 Indian gold piece was bare headed. St. Gaudens added the headdress at Roosevelt’s request. Many art critics think that the design lost something as a result. As you can see there was a headdress on Ms. Liberty in the concept design for the St. Gaudens $20 gold. Fortunately, it was dropped before any coins were struck.

[Zoins]

Thanks for the replies RWB and Bill. It's good to know about the "Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908" book and the specifics on this design. While the winged Liberty (Nike?) may have been a bit crowded, she is a major medallic artist theme and it would have been nice to have her on coinage for at least one year, maybe in a different desgin. Thanks for pointing out the Indian headdress. I hadn't noticed it on the design but see it clearly now. I'll try to find an image of the $10 coin without the headdress now. I haven't been interested in too many coin magazines so far but I liked the St. Gaudens focus and the articles in this issue.

 

In the article I learned that St. Gaudens did much of his later work in Cornish, NH which is now a National Historic Site. It looks like it's near Dartmouth and worth visiting if I'm ever in the area again.

 

[DC Dawg]

Get the book anyway. Aside from being a good book, RWB is the author!

 

Hi Roger!

 

Scott

[RWB]

Hi Scott! Thanks for the author plug! Hope folks enjoy the articles in COINAge - mine is near the backof the issue.

 

 

Zoins - search for "Saint-Gaudens cent" or "Nike Erini" to find on'line images w/o the headdress.

[jtryka]

I second that! RWB's book is completely awesome!

[Zoins]

Thanks everyone. I did end up picking up this issue and reading RWB's excellent article Classic Nikes.

 

It's good to see the original designs provided by ASG and they do appear to be images of Nike, often seen with wings and a wreath. The final designs have neither wings nor a wreath so it seems hard, if not impossible, to say the figures are supposed to be Nike. The photos of other Nike coins in the article all have wings and/or a wreath. Is there anything remaining in the final designs to indicate she is supposed to be Nike? Would it be appropriate to say the designs started off as Nike but ended up as Liberty?

 

I also enjoyed the newspaper excerpts showing people's opinions of the design and workmanship of the eagles when they were released. It sort of reminds me of the commentary on the presidential dollars today.

[RWB]

It’s probably fair to say that the figure on the $20 started out as Nike. The basic figure is much like the one on the Sherman Memorial, although on the memorial she is clearly used in the classical sense of Victory. As Saint-Gaudens simplified to fit the small format and limited relief, she became the wingless figure, holding the torch of enlightenment and olive branch of peace. He originally asked to put the worlds “Justice” or “Law” on the coin and tried them on the shield.

 

S-G thought he had finished in June 1906 and sent the reverse (standing eagle) to Janvier et Duval in Paris for reductions. (The story of Henry Hering being some kind of a hero in this is BS.) By the time they were returned, he had a change of heart and completely reworked the obverse and abandoned the reverse.

 

Roosevelt saw the June version in September, but – oddly – did not issue any great Rooseveltian exclamations of approval. It was not until Dec that the final designs reached the White House – and even these were not really final. A more detailed version was made in March – this eventually became the high relief MCMVII $20.

 

The $10 obverse is from the same Sherman Memorial work, also.

[TomB]

The ASGNHS is a great place and here are a few images I took on one of my many trips there. The first is the winged Liberty double eagle on a mock-up coin and the next pair are of a stand-alone Winged Victory from two angles

[RWB]

The first photo is of one of the double eagle obverse plaster models from June 1906. Notice the absence of the sculptor's monogram.

 

This would make an excellent 3-inch medal and I only wish the SGNHS had the funds to prepare a really high quality edition in bronze and gold plated bronze. If paired with the original standing eagle reverse, I suspect a great many collectors would purchase copies.

[MunkyMan95]

I rather like this design, maybe even more than the chosen design.

[TomB]

That model that looks like a coin is actually about four feet in diameter and is quite impressive when standing next to it.

[richbeat]

Check out this Charles Barber pattern double eagle from 1906 and compare it to Saint Gaudens:

 

http://store1.yimg.com/I/uspatterns_1794_33642920

 

Photo courtesy Andy Lustig www.uspatterns.com

 

[RWB]

Saint-Gaudens had a tendency to make oversize plaster models of his medallic designs. The design in the photo exists in several sizes including the 12-inch version with monogram intended for the coin. While designing the Columbian Exposition award medal, S-G made one version that was 3-feet in diameter and sent it to Paris for reductions. His Paris contact, Tissot, refused to do the work because going from a 36-inch model to a 2.5-inch hub was too great a reduction to hold detail. Henry Hering did most of the sculpting work for the coin designs – S-G was too ill to do much. (Most of S-G's work was large-scale monuments and maybe he just "thought big" on everything.)

 

The 1906 $20 attributed to Barber is a composite of Barber's obverse and Morgan's reverse. The edge lettering is from the same dies as used on the first group of MCMVII EHR double eagles in February 1907.

 

The SGNHS is a great place to just wander, too.