The U.S. Mint closes its Best of the Mint series today with the design many collectors would have picked first. The 2026 Saint-Gaudens High Relief gold coin, a one ounce, 24-karat reissue of the 1907 double eagle paired with a new one ounce silver companion medal, goes on sale September 24 at noon Eastern Time as set 26BM5. The product page lists the set at $5,490, with a mintage limit of 15,000 and a household limit of one, and the Mint’s September 22 press release confirms that one set cap holds for the first 24 hours
It is the fifth and final release in the Mint’s semiquincentennial Best of the Mint program, and the only one built on a coin that struggled as a production object long before it became a legend. That history is why the set matters. It is also why the specifications deserve a close read before the order button goes live.
The coin that fought the press
Theodore Roosevelt wanted American coinage to look like the country he believed it was becoming, and in 1905 he turned to Augustus Saint-Gaudens to make it happen. The sculptor answered with a full-length Liberty striding forward, torch raised in her right hand and an olive branch in her left, with sunrays behind her and the Capitol on the horizon. On the reverse, an eagle in flight crosses the rays of a rising sun. It was sculpture, reduced to the size of money.
The trouble was striking it. According to CoinWeek, Saint-Gaudens’s first Ultra High Relief pieces could need as many as nine blows from a hydraulic press, and fewer than two dozen were made. The Mint lowered the relief, but the resulting High Relief coins still needed repeated strikes on slow equipment, and Philadelphia produced only a limited run dated in Roman numerals, MCMVII. Saint-Gaudens died in August 1907 without seeing the finished coin. Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber flattened the design for high speed production, and by December the double eagle carried an ordinary Arabic date.
How many High Relief coins escaped that brief window is still argued. CoinWeek notes that the Mint’s fiscal 1908 annual report gives 12,153 pieces from the second model, while later research has put the total anywhere from roughly 12,000 to more than 12,700. Either way, the coin the hobby calls one of the most beautiful in American history was, on its own terms, a manufacturing failure. That is what makes every return of it an event.
What the 2026 Saint-Gaudens High Relief gold coin keeps, and what it changes
The new coin is faithful where it counts. The obverse is Saint-Gaudens’s Liberty with the LIBERTY and MCMVII inscriptions intact. The reverse keeps the eagle flying left across the sunrise with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and TWENTY DOLLARS, and the edge carries E PLURIBUS UNUM in raised lettering, as the original did. It is a $20 coin, and like the Philadelphia originals of 1907, it carries no mintmark.
The one addition is small and deliberate: a Liberty Bell privy mark bearing the numeral “250”, the same semiquincentennial device the Mint has used across its 2026 program. Beyond that, the Mint’s inscription list does not include IN GOD WE TRUST, which the 1907 High Relief also lacked before Congress restored the motto the following year.
Where the 2026 coin departs from 1907 is in the metal. The original was a 90% gold coin of about 34 mm holding roughly 0.9675 troy ounce of pure gold. The new coin is struck at West Point in 99.99% gold, a full troy ounce, in a 30.61 mm format with an uncirculated finish. That places it between the 1907 original and the 2009 Ultra High Relief, which squeezed Saint-Gaudens’s deeper first concept into a 27 mm, one ounce 24-karat coin. Collectors hoping for a like for like restrike will not find one here. What they get is the High Relief design translated into modern bullion standards, with a date that belongs to 1907 and a privy mark that belongs to 2026.
A companion medal that answers back
If the gold coin is an act of preservation, the silver medal is an act of interpretation. CoinWeek reports that Artistic Infusion Program artist Jesse Hernandez designed both sides. The obverse offers a new view of Saint-Gaudens’s Liberty with her torch and olive branch, ringed by 13 stars for the original colonies and dated MMXXVI. The reverse is the bolder side: the eagle’s wings become an American flag as it soars above the Sun, under the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The medal is struck at Philadelphia in one troy ounce of 99.9% silver, measures 40.60 mm and has a plain edge. It carries no denomination. Placed side by side in the case, the two pieces make the set’s point plainly enough: one is dated for the year the design was born, the other for the year the nation turns 250.
| Gold coin | Silver medal | |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Saint-Gaudens 1907 High Relief, with Liberty Bell “250” privy mark | New interpretation by Jesse Hernandez |
| Date | MCMVII | MMXXVI |
| Denomination | $20 | None |
| Composition | 99.99% gold, 1.000 troy oz | 99.9% silver, 1.000 troy oz |
| Diameter | 30.61 mm (1.205 in) | 40.60 mm (1.598 in) |
| Edge | Raised lettering (E PLURIBUS UNUM) | Plain |
| Finish | Uncirculated | Uncirculated |
| Struck at | West Point, no mintmark | Philadelphia, no mintmark |
Closing the Best of the Mint series
The program began with a longer list. The Mint assembled 21 historic coins spanning 1792 to the 21st century and, after public input and expert recommendation, narrowed them to five: the 1916 Mercury dime, the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter, the 1916 Walking Liberty half dollar, the 1804 silver dollar and the 1907 High Relief double eagle. CoinWeek adds that the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee and the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed the top choices before the Treasury Secretary signed off.
The releases have climbed steadily in gold weight, and the last two cut the mintage ceiling in half.
| Release | On sale | Gold coin | Mintage limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1916 Mercury dime set | June 4 | 1/10 oz | 30,000 |
| 1916 Standing Liberty quarter set | July 10 | 1/4 oz | 30,000 |
| 1916 Walking Liberty half dollar set | August 6 | 1/2 oz | 30,000 |
| 1804 silver dollar set | August 27 | 1 oz | 15,000 |
| 1907 Saint-Gaudens High Relief set | September 24 | 1 oz | 15,000 |
That step change shows in the price. The Walking Liberty set is listed at $2,900 on the Mint’s site; the Saint-Gaudens set comes in at $5,490. Because both sit on the Mint’s pricing range table, those figures can move with gold between now and the moment an order is placed.
A 15,000 ceiling is also a number worth handling with care. It sits within sight of the original High Relief total, which is a pleasing echo, but a mintage limit sets supply rather than demand. As of early September, CoinWeek found the earlier releases in very different states on the Mint’s site, with the Mercury dime set unavailable, the Walking Liberty set on backorder and the Standing Liberty quarter and 1804 dollar sets still orderable. Collectors completing the five will want this one regardless. For everyone else, the design is the reason to buy, and any premium that follows is a bonus rather than a plan.
The last word goes to Saint-Gaudens
Roosevelt asked for a coin that looked like sculpture, and the Philadelphia Mint of 1907 could barely make it. In 2026, West Point strikes the design in a full ounce of pure gold, stamps it with a Liberty Bell privy mark and caps the run at a figure not far from the original High Relief total. For set builders, the 2026 Saint-Gaudens High Relief gold coin is the piece that finishes the Best of the Mint series. For everyone else, it is a chance to own America’s most ambitious gold design in a form that never pretends to be the original, and is more interesting for it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 2026 Saint-Gaudens High Relief gold coin? It is a one ounce, 99.99% fine gold reissue of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s 1907 High Relief $20 double eagle, struck by the U.S. Mint for America’s 250th anniversary. It keeps the original MCMVII date and adds a Liberty Bell privy mark with the numeral 250. It is sold only in the Best of the Mint set 26BM5, paired with a one ounce silver companion medal.
When does the Best of the Mint 1907 High Relief set go on sale, and what does it cost? The set goes on sale at the U.S. Mint on September 24, 2026, at noon Eastern Time. The product page lists it at $5,490. The price follows the Mint’s pricing range table for one ounce gold and one ounce silver Best of the Mint sets, so it can change if gold moves.
How many sets will be made, and how many can I buy? The mintage limit is 15,000 sets, and the Mint lists no separate product limit. Orders are capped at one set per household for the first 24 hours after the noon release. The Mint says household limits are typically lifted after that window, though it can adjust them at its discretion.
Is the 2026 coin the same as an original 1907 High Relief double eagle? No. The design is Saint-Gaudens’s, but the physical coin is modern. The 1907 original was 90% gold, about 34 mm across and held roughly 0.9675 troy ounce of pure gold, while the 2026 coin holds a full troy ounce of 99.99% gold in a 30.61 mm format and carries a Liberty Bell 250 privy mark the original never had.
How is this different from the 2009 Ultra High Relief gold coin? The 2009 coin recreated Saint-Gaudens’s earlier, deeper Ultra High Relief concept in a 27 mm, one ounce 24-karat format and was dated MMIX. The 2026 coin follows the 1907 High Relief version instead, measures 30.61 mm, keeps the MCMVII date and is sold in a set with a silver medal.
Where is the set struck, and does the gold coin have a mintmark? The gold coin is struck at West Point and the silver medal at Philadelphia. The Mint’s specifications list no mintmark for either piece. The original 1907 High Relief coins were struck at Philadelphia and also carried no mintmark.
Who designed the silver companion medal? According to CoinWeek, U.S. Mint Artistic Infusion Program artist Jesse Hernandez designed both sides. The obverse shows a new view of Saint-Gaudens’s Liberty with 13 stars and the date MMXXVI, and the reverse turns the eagle’s wings into an American flag above the Sun.
Can I buy the gold coin without the medal? Not from the Mint. The U.S. Mint lists the 2026 Saint-Gaudens High Relief gold coin only as part of the two-piece Best of the Mint set 26BM5, and the silver medal is likewise only offered in that set.
