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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 3505735, member: 101855&quot;]The Ultra High Relief is a pattern $20 that was earlier in the year starting perhaps in February. There are 18 to 20 known. It is in higher relief than the High relief. It took something like 8 or 9 blows from the dies to bring it up. Here one that Heritage Auction House sold for $1.8 million in 2007.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]929755[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]929756[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Wire Rim&quot; refers to a strike variation on the regular High Relief $20 gold. The die and collar did not perfectly seat, and rim or fin came up on the edge of the coin. It is very common on the High Relief $20 gold coins. The piece I showed you in the previous post does not have it. It is called the &quot;flat rim.&quot; The presence or absense of the wire rim does not affect the value of the piece.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The 2009 bullion coin is the same diameter of a $10 gold piece, but twice as thick. It is a near copy of a pattern coin the mint made in 1907. None of them were released to the public, but two are in the Smithsonian Collection. The idea was to see if the mint could strike the High Relief design more easily if the diameter was smaller. It would have taken and act of Congress to have made that coin legal to issue.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here an example of 2009 coin. I took photos of the pieces in the Smithsonian. The modern version is an excellent reproduction of that piece. Based on information that came in a booklet with the piece from the mint the modern piece was made from scans of the original coin. Today scans and lasers can be used to make the tools that are used to make coin dies. That&#039;s why the mint can get so many design into to production so quickly. Years ago it took months.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is an example of the modern coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]929768[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]929770[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>You can Google the Smithsonian Collection to see the orignal example of this coin. My photos are pretty bad because I shot them through glass. I can&#039;t download the Smithsonian pictures.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]929774[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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