This will explain the words, “test model” on the back of each model.
Faithfully yours,
Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
The White House
Washington
December 20, 1906.
My dear Saint-Gaudens:
Those models are simply immense—if such a slang way of talking is permissible in reference to giving a modern nation one coinage at least which shall be as good as that of the ancient Greeks. I have instructed the Director of the Mint that these dies are to be reproduced just as quickly as possible and just as they are. It is simply splendid. I suppose I shall be impeached for it in Congress; but I shall regard that as a very cheap payment!
With heartiest regards,
Faithfully yours,
Theodore Roosevelt.
Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens,
Windsor, Vermont.