OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA.- A century-old U.S. gold coin, owned for decades by the family of the coin’s designer, acclaimed sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, will be publicly displayed in August for only the fourth time in 111 years. The coin’s face value is $20, but this historic gold piece is now insured for $5 million.

It will be a featured exhibit at the American Numismatic Association 2025 Oklahoma City World’s Fair of Money® (www.WorldsFairofMoney.com). The family-friendly event will be open to the public at the Oklahoma City Convention Center from August 19 to 23, 2025.

Often described by experts as America’s most beautiful coin, the 1907-dated Ultra High Relief Double Eagle ($20 denomination U.S. gold coin) was presented in 1908 to Saint-Gaudens’ widow at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt, who earlier asked the renowned artist to create the now iconic design. Saint-Gaudens died in 1907 before coins with this design were released.

The historic coin is being loaned by California collector Dan O’Dowd, owner of The Tyrant Collection (www.TheTyrantCollection.com), often described as the world’s most valuable rare coin collection in private hands.

“I am excited about this coin,” stated O’Dowd, who acquired it for $2,115,000 a decade ago.

“It is not only the most beautiful coin America has ever produced, but it also rivals anything created by any other country. Saint-Gaudens admired ancient Greek style and wanted to create something America would be proud of after President Roosevelt asked him to help redesign early 20th-century U.S. coinage,” explained O’Dowd.

“It is called Ultra High Relief because the design rises so high above the coin’s surface that they could not be stacked one on top of each other. This is a great numismatic rarity,” stated Ira Goldberg, CEO of Goldberg Coins and Collectibles, Inc. in Los Angeles, California.

Goldberg is among those who have assisted O’Dowd in building his extensive collection of United States, world, and ancient coins.

The United States Mint produced less than two dozen 1907 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle patterns. The relief was subsequently reduced so the coins could be mass-produced for circulation, explained Goldberg.

The design by Saint-Gaudens is so popular and iconic, it was adopted in 1986 for the Mint’s yearly American Eagle gold bullion coin series for collectors and investors.

The date 1907 on the front of the coin is in Roman numerals, MCMVII.

The central design depicts the symbolic “Miss Liberty,” similar to sculptor Saint-Gaudens’ famous design of the ten-foot-tall female figure, “Victory,” he created for the 1903 monument to General William Tecumseh Sherman in New York’s Central Park. He used the same young woman, Harriette Eugenia Anderson, as the model for both the monument and the coin.

This example of the 1907 Ultra High Relief was retained by Saint-Gaudens’ widow, Augusta, and then inherited by their son, Homer. It was loaned by the family to the American Numismatic Society in New York for decades until 1950, then privately sold in the 1970s. O’Dowd purchased the coin in a January 2015 auction.

The coin has rarely been seen in public since an exhibition in New York in 1914. Visitors now will have a chance to see it for the first time in Oklahoma.