Manufactured between 1907 and 1933, the Indian Head Ten Dollar coin, or the Eagle coin, is a rare and desirable coin for any collection. Commissioned by Teddy Roosevelt and designed by sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens; the coin is technically knows as a gold eagle coin. Saint-Gaudens died a few short months before his coins were actually issued by the mint.

The Name and the Design

Saint-Gaudens designed the obverse with a bust view of Lady Liberty and the Eagle was placed on the reverse. Roosevelt urged the artist to add a Native American war bonnet to the image of Liberty, resulting in the “Indian Head Eagle” nickname for this coin. The reverse features an American Eagle, proudly standing with his head fully erect and wings folded. He is shown grasping an olive branch in his claws.

Mintage

Production began in 1907 in the “wire edge” variety, meaning that there is a sharp rim along the circumference. Most coins are designed with a distinctive raised edge that is rounded. The outer edge of the coin was stamped with 46 stars to represent the states that were members of the Union at that time. It was found that the coins did not stack well, however, so the move to a “wire edge” was abandoned. There were only 500 Eagle coins struck with this type of edge.

The “rolled edge” that is normally used on coins was tried. The mint attempted to still stamp the stars on the edge, but the results were not desirable. There were originally about 31,500 of these coins minted before the design was changed again. Most of these coins were melted down, only 42 survived. An owner of this exceptionally rare $10 coin will be pleased to learn that the value of it is currently closer to $400,000.

In 1907, changes were made to the Indian Head Eagle. The periods around the words E PLURIBUS UNUM were removed and the quality was vastly improved. 239,406 of these coins were issued by the mint before the year ended.

Unfortunately, these coins were not popular with the public because they did not contain the words IN GOD WE TRUST. Roosevelt did not want to include the Lord’s name on coins as he viewed it as a sign of disrespect. Technically, however, it was Congressional mandate that added those words to coinage in the year 1865, and the president lacked the authority to dictate whether it should be on a coin or not. Congress reasserted its power and the words IN GOD WE TRUST were added to the Indian Head Eagle about halfway through the 1908 printing year.

Available Years

The coins were minted on a regular basis between the years 1907 and 1917. Between 1917 and 1933, however, minting of the Gold Eagle was sporadic. Ultimately, the minting of gold coins was ended with Franklin Roosevelt’s Gold Order of 1933. Under this directive, private citizens were banned from owning gold coins and bullion. Of the 312,500 Indian Head Eagles minted in 1933, only a few dozen were actually released for sale. The remainders were melted down under the provisions of the Gold Order. One of the surviving coins sold at auction in September of 2008 for an astonishing $450,000.

Purchasing

The key dates that enjoy high value are the 1920-S and the 1930S. Other years that are worth having and are still reasonably affordable include the 1911-D, the 1913-S and the 1915-S.

It is important that you insist on having any coin certified by a leading grading service company before making a purchase. The PCGS, NGC, ICG, and ANACS are the four leading services and taking the time to have them review and certify the coin can save you a costly mistake.

References:

US Coin Values
Direct US Gold Coins

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