Ultra High Relief Twenty Dollar Gold 2009

In 1907 Augustus Saint-Gaudens's new double eagle was first cut in a relief so deep that each piece needed several strikes on a medal press, and only about two dozen of these Ultra High Relief patterns were made before the design was flattened for production. More than a century later the Mint revived that first version. It scanned Saint-Gaudens's original plaster models, rebuilt the design digitally and sold it for one year only as the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle, a collector coin.

The coin went on sale on January 22, 2009, priced weekly by the gold market, with a limit of one per household at first because gold blanks were in short supply. The Mint raised the limit to ten in July and dropped it on September 21. Sales stopped at 3 p.m. Eastern on December 31, 2009. Unlike bullion coins, it was sold by the Mint directly, in a mahogany box with a book on how the coin was made.

There is one coin: an uncirculated strike from the West Point Mint, with no mint mark. Our page lists it as 2009 (W) Ultra High Relief Gold Double Eagle. No proof or bullion version was made.

• 2009: the Mint sold 115,178. A Mint spokesperson gave CoinNews that figure after sales closed, and CoinNews pointed out that it was unaudited, as all the Mint's weekly figures are. Sales had stood at 112,065 on December 27.
• The 1907 originals are covered in our Saint-Gaudens double eagle guide. The design returned again in 2026, dated MCMVII with a Liberty Bell privy mark, as part of the Mint's Best of the Mint program.

Date. The 2009 coin is dated MMIX, in Roman numerals, like the 1907 high relief coins dated MCMVII.

Stars. The 2009 obverse has 50 stars around the rim; the Mint added four for the states admitted after 1907.

Motto. IN GOD WE TRUST appears on the reverse; it is missing from the 1907 high relief coins.

Size. The 2009 coin is 27 mm across, smaller than the 34 mm double eagle of 1907-1933, and USA Coin Book gives its thickness as 4 mm (search).

Edge. Raised letters read E PLURIBUS UNUM, each letter separated by a star.

• Composition: 24-karat (.9999 fine) gold
• Gold content: one troy ounce
• Diameter: 27 mm
• Thickness: 4 mm (USA Coin Book, search)
• Edge: lettered E PLURIBUS UNUM, with stars
• Face value: twenty dollars
• Mint: West Point, no mint mark
• Designer: Augustus Saint-Gaudens

The Mint chose 24-karat gold because it is softer than the 22-karat or 90% gold of other U.S. gold coins and fills the deep relief more easily.