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Glom on these images for a bit.
Follow the coin's lines and curves, its raised devices and depressed fields, the way the light reflecting off the
gold brilliantly elucidates the coin's design elements. Lady Liberty, fetchingly buxom and loosely clad in a flowing
robe, is striding vigorously toward you, full of strength and confidence, a torch in one hand, symbol of intelligence
and spirituality, an olive branch in the other, symbol of peace. Behind her rays from a rising run shoot up from
the horizon. Forty-six stars nudge the rim of the coin, representing each state in the Union at the time.
The reverse is nearly as striking, with a large eagle in full flight, the eagle being the national emblem of the
United States as well as a symbol of freedom and power from ancient times. Behind the eagle is more sunlight and
a sun partially eclipsed by the coin's rim at the bottom.
The physical beauty of the coin can transport you beyond physicality. Its symbolism can move you through real to
ideal. Its historical associations can take you beyond history, beyond time. The coin is timelessly evocative.
When you seize upon it with your eyes, it just may take you out of yourself, to another place, not necessarily
a physical place, but a transcendent place.
The coin is a Saint-Gaudens double eagle, or twenty dollar gold piece, commonly called a Saint and widely regarded
as the most beautiful coin ever minted. This particular specimen is an Ultra High Relief Saint, a proof coin minted
in 1907 that's so three-dimensional it's more a sculpture than mere coin. The specimen illustrated here was graded
PR-69 by NGC, then PR-69 by PCGS, the only PR-69 Ultra High Relief Saint in existence, according to Heritage Auctions.
This specimen sold, among other times, through auctioneer Bowers and Merena in 1997 for $660,000 and through Heritage
in November 2005 for $2.99 million. That's a lot of money.
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