The History of the $20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle

The $20 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle (An "Eagle" being $10, and therefore a "Double Eagle" being worth $20), has a long and rich American History steeped in "Progress" which was at the forefront of ideas being brought to fruition by the politicians heading the young United States at the time. For instance, it was President Theodore Roosevelt who was the driving force to create this coin, in order to replace the $20 Liberty Double Eagle which he found unfitting in design and execution to represent the wealth of his great nation; he wanted a "Beautiful" coin that would better represent the power, technology, and artistic talents that were growing in the United States.

Less than three decades later, it would be then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who would not only end the production of these amazingly beautiful coins, but he would also recall them through his Executive Order 6102 which required American Citizens to turn in the majority of their gold coins in exchange for paper Federal Reserve Notes, all again in the name of "Progress".