United States Twenty Dollar Coin 1907

This is Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s United States Twenty Dollar Coin, a small disc made of gold. I love this coin because it feels both ancient and modern. The lines are crisp, but there's a soft glow where the light catches. Think about how Saint-Gaudens must have worked. The engraving process is meticulous, a real dance of pressure and precision, cutting away material to reveal the image. Notice how Liberty’s gown flows, almost like liquid gold itself. It's these tiny, deliberate marks that build up the whole image. The texture is smooth but has a subtle relief, so when you run your fingers over it, you can feel the depth of the design, how it catches the light. It reminds me of some of Brancusi’s sculptures. The way he chased an ideal form, through endless refinement. Both artists understood how to create something that feels both solid and ethereal, like catching light in your hand.