INDIAN HEAD TEN DOLLARS OR EAGLE (1907-1933) FACTS
The new gold coins of 1907 were the result of the unprecedented collaboration of a great sculptor and a dynamic President.
The bust on the new eagle was almost identical to the Nike head (Victory) that Saint Gaudens designed for Sherman's monument in New York's Central Park. At Roosevelt's insistence, she shed her laurel crown for a handsome, but historically impossible Indian feathered war bonnet. LIBERTY was inscribed on the Indian's headdress, with 13 stars above the head and the date below. The reverse's eagle stands on a bundle of arrows, with the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM to the right. Encircling the periphery above the eagle is the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Below is the denomination TEN DOLLARS.
Most 1933 Indian eagles were melted into featureless ingots of .900 fine gold, disappearing with hundreds of thousands of other historic gold coins in the wake of the Presidential directive.
Proof issues of this series are known in two main types and various colorations. Matte or sandblast coins display subdued, microscopically grainy luster on needle-sharp strikes. Satin or Roman finish proofs were a short-lived experiment showing amazingly smooth, softly glowing surfaces. Matte proofs exist of the 1907 Rolled Edge, 1908 With Motto, 1909, and 1911 through 1915 issues. The Satin proofs include the unique Plain Edge 1907 piece, at least one each of the 1907 No Periods and 1908 With Motto coins, as well as coins of 1909 and 1910.
Mint records show that a total of 13,070,583 Indian Head eagles-including proofs-were struck in all. These figures are misleading, as the 1920-S, 1930-S and 1933 coins were melted almost in their entirety. Small hoards of both the `30-S and the `33 have shown up over the years, but none of the `20-S, making this the rarest of the three. Other very elusive dates in mint state are the 1909-D, 1911-D, 1913-S and the 1915-S. In gem condition, all ten Indians are scarce, including the issues most commonly found in mint state, the 1926 and 1932. When grading this design, wear will first appear above the eye and on the cheek of the Indian, and on the reverse, on the top of the eagle's wing.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter: 27 millimeters
Weight: 16.718 grams
Metal Composition: .900 gold, .100 copper
Edge: Raised stars
Net Weight: .48375 ounce pure gold
Mint Mark: Too the left of Eagle's perch on reverse-D (Denver) ,S (San Francisco) and none for Philadelphia
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Akers, David W., A Handbook of 20th-Century Unites States Gold Coins 1907-1933, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1988. Alexander, David T., DeLorey, Thomas K. and Reed, P. Bradley, Coin World Comprehensive Catalog and Encyclopedia of United States Coins, World Almanac-Pharos Books, New York, 1990. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.