From Winter 2007 Vol 4 Issue 4 of the California Numismatist

The Cast of Characters President Theodore Roosevelt, artist-sculptor Augustus Saint- Gaudens, Henry Hering and the chief engraver of the United States Mint, Charles Barber, played pivotal roles in the creation of one of our most beautiful coins in the history of the coinage of the United States.

Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York in 1899 and ascended to the office of Vice President of the United States in 1901. With the tragic shooting of President William McKinley on September 6, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became President and was inaugurated on September 14, 1901. He ran for the office and was elected President in 1904.

The parents of Augustus Saint- Gaudens migrated to the United States shortly after his birth in Dublin, Ireland on March 1, 1848. The family settled in New York. Saint-Gaudens always believed he was destined to become a sculptor and, at an early age, became a cameo cutter. He studied drawing at the Cooper Institute (1861-65) and was a student at the National Academy of Design (1865-66) receiving an Honorary LL.D. from Princeton.

Traveling to Paris, Saint-Gaudens studied at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts (1866-70) and in Rome (1870-72). By 1885 he began to spend his summers in Cornish, New Hampshire and in 1900, he made his residence there.

Saint-Gaudens was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 1900 and he had been in treatment, including surgery, since that time. The cancer continued and grew worse. During the first six months of 1906, the artist struggled with the constant debilitating pain caused by this disease. He spent most of March 1906 in Corey Hill Hospital in Brookline, Mass. Upon his return home, he continued to work but was quite limited due to his poor health. He relied more and more on his assistant, Henry Hering. By May 1906 Saint-Gaudens had to rely on his assistant to do all of the relief modeling. His doctors were no longer able to treat his cancer by radiation and Augustus Saint-Gaudens slipped into a coma and died at his home on August 3, 1907

Henry Hering was born in New York City on February 15, 1874. He attended the Art Students League in New York (1894-98) and, like Saint- Gaudens, the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. In 1900 Henry Hering arrived in Cornish, New Hampshire where he served as an assistant to Saint-Gaudens. He remained in Cornish until the death of his mentor in 1907.

At the age of 44, Hering served with the 40th Engineers of the U.S. Army in 1918. He continued his career in the arts throughout his life and died in New York, January 15, 1949. Charles E. Barber was born in London on November 16, 1840. His father, William Barber, was the chief engraver at the United States Mint in Philadelphia until his death in 1879. His son Charles, who was appointed assistant engraver in 1869, was promoted to chief engraver upon the death of his father. He remained in this position until his death in 1917.

Act I – Background

Since the United States Mint struck its first coins in 1793, the responsibility and opportunity of designing the nation’s coinage has always been the province of the mint’s engravers/designers. This task seemed to be reserved for these officials and “outsiders” were unwelcome. This was not true for the creation of medals, etc. In 1891, the mint’s chief engraver Charles Barber and an “outsider,” Augustus Saint-Gaudens, were in disagreement over the creation of the medal for the World’s Columbian Exposition Award. Saint-Gaudens believed the upcoming Chicago World’s Fair was to be “the greatest gathering of Artists since the “Quattrocento” and was determined to create a medal worthy of the event. However Barber did not support his medal design and was successful in substituting his creation for the official medal. Saint-Gaudens reacted to what he considered to be “an act of rare shamelessness” and vowed never again to work with the mint.

Act II – The President and the Artist

When the 1905 inaugural ceremonies were planned for the newly elected President, mint engraver Charles Barber fulfilled his obligation to design the official medal that was struck be Davison of Philadelphia. However President Roosevelt was dissatisfied with his portrait on the Barber piece and asked Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a more fitting and artistic medal for this auspicious occasion. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt met Augustus Saint-Gaudens in May 1901 on the train as they were returning from the Pan American Exposition held in Buffalo, New York. Tragically on September 6, 1901, President McKinley was shot at that exposition and Roosevelt became President. Now the relationship between Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens took on a new dimension as the President was determined to change the nation’s coinage designs.

Under the terms of an 1890 coinage law that governed the designs of the coinage of the United States, these designs had to be in place for at least 25 years before changes could be made without the approval of congress. As a result, the coins that were subject to change included the onecent piece and the ten and twenty dollar gold coins. Roosevelt empowered Augustus Saint-Gaudens to undertake this task and granted him “complete artistic freedom within the limit of coinage law.”

The artist made pencil sketches for three coins in the fall of 1905. All three coins were being designed at the same time instead of a sequence of completing one design and then moving on to the next coin. As time passed, the health of Saint-Gaudens became a major factor. By May 1906, he had to rely on his assistant, Henry Hering to complete all of the relief modeling based upon Saint-Gaudens sketches.

Act III – A New Coin Design is Born

While mulling over possible designs for three coins, the cent, eagle and double eagle pieces, various ideas were contemplated by Saint-Gaudens for each denomination. When shared with those at the mint, the mint officials expressed their concerns regarding the high relief of Saint-Gauden’s eagle and double eagle plans. Of course these were preliminary ideas as the artist considered various combinations for the cent, eagle and double eagle pieces. Early in May 1907, Roosevelt preferred the Standing Liberty design for the $20 denomination and Liberty/Indian Head design for the cent.

As a gravely ill Saint-Gaudens and his assistant Henry Hering continued to grapple with the design of the eagle and double-eagle, President Roosevelt and Mint Director George Roberts made some very important decisions. On May 25, 1907 Roberts notified Saint-Gaudens the double eagle would bear a full figure representing “Liberty” on the obverse and a “Flying Eagle” motif on the reverse. The eagle would have the Indian Head obverse and a standing eagle reverse. These decision left the design for the new cent unresolved.

Act IV – The Birth of a New Eagle

Saint-Gaudens in early June 1907 dispatched his “models” for the new $10 gold piece to the President. They included the date in Roman numerals placed below the Indian Head. The denomination “TEN DOLLARS” was placed along the borders of the reverse. This feathered headdress Liberty on the obverse and walking eagle on the reverse had first appeared on early Double Eagle models by the sculptor.

Mint Director Roberts rejected the use of Roman numerals for the date. Hering returned to the New Hampshire from New York and prepared a new set of models for the new $10 gold coin and sent them to the mint on June 24, 1907 with the date in Arabic numerals.

On July 8, 1907 Mint Director George Roberts resigned and Robert Preston was named acting director until his replacement was named. It was not until September that Frank Leach was nominated and confirmed as the new director. During this period, without a director, the pressure from President Roosevelt to strike the coins mounted.

On July 19, 1907, the mint’s chief engraver, Charles Barber, had produced a set of dies for the new eagle and utilizing these dies struck several trial pieces. These coins were of a high relief, with a plain edge, knife rims and periods before and after the inscriptions and between the individual words of the motto. Saint-Gaudens, (this was less than two weeks prior to his death) wanted to see the models

The flat rims of these pieces allowed for a fin of extruded medal between the die and collar, resulting in the name, “Wire Edge.” This edge made it very difficult to stack the coins, a major concern of the mint. The reverses of this type displayed pellets before and after the reverse lettering.

The casts delivered to Saint-Gaudens on July 28th from the Mint were the last the sculptor saw of his design. He slipped into a coma the following day.

Frank Leach, the former Superintendent of the San Francisco Mint, replaced George Roberts in September 1907. The second type of the 1907 eagles bore a rolled edge resulting in a well-defined outer rim. Periods were placed before and after each word of the motto. The new Mint Director determined these to be impractical and ordered them to be melted Of the 31,500 coins struck of this 2nd type in September 1907, only 40 to 45 pieces escaped the November melting pot.

Coincidentally, the order to melt these coins came at about the same time as the annual Assay Commission meeting and Leach decided to present the 42 members of the Commission with one of these gold coins in place of or in addition to their annual medal. Mint Director Frank Leach also took issue with Judd who treated the second issue as “patterns.” Leach wrote, “They were struck for circulation.” A third type of 1907 eagle feature a wide rim, evenly placed stars and the pellets or periods were eliminated; however the periods between each word of “UNITED-STATES-OFAMERICA” remained.

Act V – Where Does It Belong?

Another major design change in the $10 (and $20) gold pieces was the addition of the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” to the coins struck late in 1908. As a result there are 1908 $10 gold pieces with and without this religious phrase.

At President Roosevelt’s insistence, the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” was omitted from the designs of the new $10 and $20 gold pieces. This phrase had appeared on the Liberty Head gold coins for over half a century. Roosevelt was not an atheist, but he firmly believed the coinage of the United States was an improper place for a religious motto. The phrase, “IN GOD WE TRUST,” first appeared on the two-cent pieces beginning in 1864 but it was not mandated. In fact, the Coinage Act of 1873 stated that this motto be inscribed on coins as space and design “permitted.” At President Roosevelt’s insistence, when the new eagle and double eagle coins appeared in 1907, the motto had been omitted. However, following a public outcry, Congress ordered it restored on the gold pieces and the Act of May 18, 1908 made it mandatory on all coins upon which it had heretofore appeared.

As a result, the motto was restored to the reverse of the $10 gold pieces in the latter part of 1908 that, coincidentally, was just after Roosevelt completed his term and left the White House. The Philadelphia and Denver Mints struck 1908 dated $10 gold pieces without the motto. Subsequently, later in the year, gold eagles from the Philadelphia, Denver and the San Francisco Mints all bear the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” in the field to the left of the eagle on the reverse.

No American coin design has escaped criticism and the Eagle of Saint-Gaudens/Hering was no exception. The Caucasian features on the Indian was criticized and those interested in the authentic representation of the American Indian quickly pointed out that no American Indian woman ever wore a war bonnet. The eagle on the reverse also came under criticism. The leg feathers, ornithologists claimed, were those of a Golden Eagle, not the American Bald Eagle, our national bird. Perhaps Franklin was right all along.

Act VI – The End

The problems with striking the new design to the specifi cations insisted upon by Augustus Saint-Gaudens resulted in many trips to the Mint in Philadelphia by Henry Hering. The debate regarding the exclusion of the motto and the struggle and the longstanding argument over who should design the coins of the United States continued. In the end, the public liked the new gold coins. The new and last gold eagle to be struck by the mint for circulation was produced, with some periods when none were minted, from 1908 through 1933. The sequence of events that led to the change from the gold standard to be replaced by silver resulted in the decision to omit striking this denomination during the war years 1917-1919 and again during the recovery years 1921-1925 and again in 1931. At one time or another, the Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco Mints produced these $10 eagles.

Special Thanks to The California Numismatist for permission to Re-publish this article.