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.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Gaudens_double_eagle>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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