A 1907 Saint-Gaudens double eagle has sold for $64,625 in Heritage Auctions' November 6-10 US coins sale in Beverly Hills.

Saint-Gaudens' designs for the $20 are considered the most beautiful coins the US Mint has ever produced. Few high relief examples were issued, as they proved difficult to strike.

double eagle gaudens 1907

He appears to have been acutely aware of his own abilities, writing in his autobiography: "With such an incentive [drawing classes at Cooper] I became a terrific worker, toiling every night until eleven o'clock after the class was over, in the conviction that in me another heaven-born genius had been given to the world.

"I can remember thinking in public conveyances, that if the men standing on the platform around me could realize how great a genius was rubbing elbows with them in the quiet-looking boy by their side, they would be profoundly impressed."

An extremely rare ultra high relief specimen of the 1907 double eagle (one of only two extant) realised $1.1m at Heritage in 2012.

A 1900 Liberty quarter eagle also sold well, achieving an identical sum of $64,625.

The lot (graded PR68) is among the finest known of around 100 surviving specimens and displays superb eye appeal.  

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