The Saint-Gaudens double eagle is a twenty dollar gold coin, or double eagle, produced by the United States Mint from 1907 to 1933. The coin is named after Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who designed the obverse and reverse. In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt sought to beautify American coinage, and proposed Saint-Gaudens as an artist capable of the task. Although the sculptor had poor experiences with the Mint and its chief engraver, Charles E. Barber, Saint-Gaudens accepted Roosevelt's call. The work was subject to considerable delays, due to technical difficulties as well as Saint-Gaudens's declining health. Saint-Gaudens died in 1907, after designing the eagle and double eagle, but before the designs were finalized for production. After several versions of the design for the double eagle proved too difficult to strike, Barber modified Saint-Gaudens's design, lowering the relief so the coin could be struck with only one blow. When the coins were finally released, they proved controversial as they lacked the words "In God We Trust", and Congress intervened to require the motto's use. The coin was minted, primarily for use in international trade, until 1933. The 1933 double eagle is among the most valuable of U.S. coins, with the sole example presently known to be in private hands selling in 2002 for $7,590,020.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
End of World War I: Canadian soldier George Lawrence Price was killed in action minutes before the armistice treaty signed by Germany and the Allies came into effect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lawrence_Price
1960:
A coup attempt by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam against President Ngo Dinh Diem was crushed after Diem falsely promised reform, allowing loyalists to rescue him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_South_Vietnamese_coup_attempt
1965:
Southern Rhodesia, led by Prime Minister Ian Smith, unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom to become Rhodesia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Smith
1975:
During a constitutional crisis in Australia, Governor-General John Kerr dismissed the government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and dissolved Parliament for a double dissolution election. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitutional_crisis
1999:
The House of Lords Act was given Royal Assent, restricting membership of the British House of Lords by virtue of a hereditary peerage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords_Act_1999
2004:
Yasser Arafat , the first President of the Palestinian National Authority, died in a military hospital near Paris. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
bell the cat (v): To undertake a dangerous action in the service of a group http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bell_the_cat
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Men reject their prophets and slay them, but they love their martyrs and honor those they have slain. --Fyodor Dostoevsky http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoevsky