1908-D Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle. Motto. MS-66 (PCGS). Impressive Gem Mint State quality for this conditionally challenged issue. Gorgeous rose-orange color blankets both sides and mingles nicely with full, satiny mint luster. Sharply struck throughout, as befits the issue, and exceptionally well preserved to outrank the vast majority of 1908-D Motto double eagles extant. The addition of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST in 1908 by Congressional mandate resulted in the final major design change for Augustus Saint-Gaudens inspired double eagle design. The premier Denver Mint issue of the new type, the 1908-D was once considered a major rarity even in lower Mint State grades. Enough examples have been repatriated in recent years -- starting with a particularly impressive bounty located in Central America in 1983 -- that less discerning collectors will have little difficulty obtaining a coin in the MS-60 to MS-64 range. This issue remains a median rarity for the type in the finest Mint State grades, however, and it is rarer as a Gem than such other Saint-Gaudens twenties as the 1909-S, 1911-S, 1913-D, 1923 and even the vaunted MCMVII (1907) High Relief. This is truly an impressive survivor of the issue that would do justice to the finest collection of 20th century U.S. Mint gold. PCGS# 9148. NGC ID: 26F9. PCGS Population: 32; 7 finer (MS-67 finest).