Information about effigy: Standing Liberty by Saint-Gaudens

This image of Liberty was created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1907 for the obverse of the double Eagle ($20) gold coin, which was commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt to create coins like the ancient Greek and Roman coins. It shows the female personification of the idea of liberty as a young woman, seen full-length from the front, walking towards the viewer, with billowing tunic and flowing hair. She holds a torch in her right hand as a symbol of enlightenment, and an olive branch in her left hand as a symbol of peace. In the background, below left the Capitol building in Washington D.C., and a sunburst of rays radiating upward from the ground behind her. Her left foot is raised above a rock; above that rock on the right is the designer's monogram ASG (three letters one over the other).

Around the rim, there were originally 46 stars, reflecting the number of states which formed the United States of America in 1907. The image was used on the Double Eagle from 1907 until 1933; the stars were increased to 48 in 1912, after the admission of New Mexico and Arizona as states earlier that year. Since 1986, the Saint-Gaudens depiction of Standing Liberty is on the obverse of the various denominations of the American Gold Eagle bullion range, with 50 stars reflecting the current number of states.