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Saint-Gaudens continued to write Roosevelt and work on the coins until his death in 1907. The completed $20 gold piece has Lady Liberty featured on the obverse side of this coin holding a torch and an olive branch, while the reverse side featured an eagle in flight. The obverse (front) side of the $10 coin features Lady Liberty wearing a Native American head-dress while the reverse (back) side features a standing eagle similar to the eagle on the 1905 Inaugural Medal. Really, the feather head-dress could be treated as being the conventional cap of Liberty quite as much as if it was a Phrygian cap and, after all, it is our Liberty - not what the ancient Greeks and Romans miscalled by that title - and we are entitled to a typically American head-dress for the lady.” Roosevelt wrote to Saint-Gaudens,“I am so glad you liked the head of Liberty with the feather head-dress. Roosevelt especially liked Saint-Gaudens’ sketch of Lady Liberty on the $10 coin, which he suggested to Saint-Gaudens wear a Native American headdress. My idea is to make it a living thing and typical of progress.” Saint-Gaudens wrote to Roosevelt as he sketched his ideas for the $20 coin,“I have about determined on the composition of one side, which would contain an eagle very much like the one I placed on your medal with a modification that would be advantageous on the other side some kind of, possibly winged, figure of liberty striding energetically forward as if on a mountaintop, holding aloft on one arm a shield bearing the stars and stripes with the word liberty marked across the fields In the other hand perhaps a flaming torch, the drapery would be flowing in the breeze. Both men agreed that Greek coins should serve as initial inspiration but that the coins should have figures and symbols that represent American icons and values. Ultimately, Saint-Gaudens enjoyed designing the coins and discussing it with Roosevelt. You may not recall that I told you I was “scared blue” at the thought of doing that now that I have the opportunity, the responsibility looms up like a spectre.”
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In 1906, he wrote to Roosevelt saying,“The making of these designs is a great pleasure, but the job is even more serious than I anticipated. Saint-Gaudens appreciated Roosevelt’s confidence but held some apprehensions when designing the coins. Thrice over to the good fortune of our countrymen, it was given to you to strike this highest note.” To take grim, homely, old Sherman, the type and ideal of a democratic general, and put with him an allegorical figure, such as you did, could result in one of two ways - a ludicrous failure, or striking the very highest note of the sculptor's art.
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In a letter to Saint-Gaudens, Roosevelt wrote, “But I can say with all sincerity that I know of no man, of no one living, who could have done it. Roosevelt had been impressed by many of Saint-Gaudens’ monuments, especially his 1902 monument of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Roosevelt chose Saint-Gaudens because he ushered in the nascent American art scene and because he often used American symbols and allegorical figures in his art such as angels, bald eagles, and stars and stripes. One way did this was by commissioning an American artist, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to design currency that represented American progress and ideals. With these social and economic changes, Theodore Roosevelt found it more important than ever to create a distinct American culture.ĭuring his presidency from 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt helped to create and promote American culture in the country and the world. Large influxes of immigrants arrived as new manufacturing technology drove the economy. In the years following the Civil War, the United States was going through a cultural shift. Along with the coins, Saint-Gaudens also designed Roosevelt’s 1905 Inaugural Medal. Their most famous project together was the beautifully designed ten- and twenty-dollar gold coins. A Living Thing and Typical of Progress: Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Theodore Roosevelt, and the CoinsĪugustus Saint-Gaudens and Theodore Roosevelt’s relationship was not only a working one, but also a friendly one.