Description
Augustus Saint-Gaudens never saw his artwork become an actual circulating coin; he died in August of 1907 shortly before the coins were struck. To solve the problems inherent with high reliefs, new copy dies were to be mechanically produced using the original high-relief models. Mint Engraver Charles Barber, wanting to make his own dies, said the mechanical reduction process was not practical. The resulting Barber version was, in Breen’s words “a travesty of Saint-Gaudens’ original concept”. Even acknowledging that statement, the coin is still considered to be the prettiest one the nation ever produced.
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