United States Twenty-dollar Gold Piece
1905–7, gold coin 1911
Medium
Gold
Dimensions
Diam. 1 5/16 in. (3.3 cm)
Classification
Coin
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Heinz L. Stoppelmann, 1979
Accession Number
1979.486.8
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Augustus Saint-Gaudens' twenty-dollar gold coin represents the pinnacle of American numismatic art and a revolutionary moment in coin design. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt sought to beautify American coinage and proposed Saint-Gaudens as an artist capable of the task. The sculptor created a design of unprecedented artistic ambition: the obverse features Liberty striding across a rocky outcrop holding a torch (representing enlightenment) in one hand and an olive branch (symbol of peace) i...
About the Artist
Augustus Saint-Gaudens · 1848–1907
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) was an Irish-born American sculptor widely regarded as the greatest American sculptor of the nineteenth century. Born in Dublin to a French father and Irish mother, he was brought to New York City as an infant. He trained as a cameo cutter, studied at the Cooper Union and the National Academy of Design, and then traveled to Paris, where he studied at the École de...