President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to redesign all American coinage, but Saint-Gaudens died of cancer after completing design work for the $10 Eagle and $20 Double Eagle gold pieces. Fortunately, in late 1907 Roosevelt was able to contact one of Saint-Gaudens’ students, Bela Lyon Pratt, and commission him to redesign the $2.50 and $5.00 denominations. A year later, the numismatic community was surprised by Pratt’s innovative Indian Head gold coin design, which featured the legends and motifs incused rather than raised on the coin. In other words, as a departure from earlier United States coinage, the devices were recessed into the surface of the coin. These are the only U.S. coins minted in this manner.