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2009 Saint-Gaudens, Ultra-High Relief gold $20 bullion coin
The 2009 Saint-Gaudens, Ultra-High Relief gold bullion $20 coin is a one-year issue. Its design is based on one of the most popular and what many believe to be th...READ MORE
The 2009 Saint-Gaudens, Ultra-High Relief gold bullion $20 coin is a one-year issue. Its design is based on one of the most popular and what many believe to be the most beautiful of U.S. coins: the 1907 Saint-Gaudens, Ultra High Relief, Roman Numerals gold $20 double eagle. Originally designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the designs for the 2009 issue were prepared by digitally mapping examples of the original 1907 plaster models.
Some modifications were made to create the 2009 design including the 2009 date in Roman numerals, the reverse addition of the motto "In God We Trust" and four additional stars were added to the obverse to bring the total number of stars to 50. The 1907 original design depicted just 46 stars, reflecting the number of states at the time.
The 2009 coin closely replicates what Saint-Gaudens originally intended his 1907 double eagle to look like, although the 2009 coin has a diameter of 27 millimeters, not the 34-millimeter diameter of a regular double eagle. Also, the 2009 coin is composed of .9999 fine gold whereas the 1907 coin was composed of 90 percent gold, 10 percent copper – the standard for a gold $20 coin struck for circulation at the time.
The 2009 coin is 4 millimeters thick and is 50 percent thicker than other 1-ounce U.S. gold coins. It is similar to an extra-thick 1907 $20 double eagle pattern.
The coin made its debut July 30, 2008, during the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money in Baltimore. On Nov. 24, 2008, a first-strike ceremony was held at the West Point Mint.
While the Mint initially placed ordering restrictions on the coin, no mintage limit was set. The coin went on sale Jan. 22, 2009, and the first batch shipped to collectors on Feb. 6, 2009. The initial issue price was $1,189 and the initial wave of ordering was plagued with fulfillment problems.
More than 40,000 were sold within the first week, but it took another month for total sales to reach 50,000, and as the year progressed, demand slowed down.
Due to increases in the price of gold, as sales closed on Dec. 31, 2009, the U.S. Mint was offering the coin for $1,489.
The final sales figure was reported by the U.S. Mint as 115,178.