Owner Comments:
This is a fun coin.
Satisfies the 1900 double-aught decade, the $20 Saint-Gaudens denomination design, and the Denver mintmark. (the first of three Denver Mint coins in the collection)
Denver was chosen for this large coin so that the Denver overall gold-mass contribution to the type set would place it as second in line only to my first love of US gold — Carson City.
Colorado holds a place in my heart because of its natural beauty — "the prairies and… wind leaning on the tall grass, lazy streams down in the meadows, angry little midgets of water up in the mountains, cattle moving down the slope against the sun… campfires and… snowdrifts," … hiking… fly fishing — experienced firsthand in my younger years.
The obverse side visually glows with incredible luster when just the slightest amount of light is brought to bear on it. Just lights up! Always fun is locating its "D" mintmark, which is a scant trace of a mintmark, yet still there, unmistakably.
The reverse side, though crisp in sharpness, for some reason is much more austere in terms of reflectivity.
Denver offered this 1908 date in two versions: No Motto and Motto, and since the motto 'IN GOD WE TRUST' provided more "character" and "detail" than just the bland emptiness-alternative of "nothing," there was never a choice for me as to which one I would collect.
Since this coin was purchased from a Florida dealer, whose coin shop resides a mere half an hour drive from Orlando's Convention Center, maybe it would have been more appropriate for me to have begun this coin's write up with…
This is a FUN coin.