Indian Head Eagle

Coin	Weight (g)	Composition	Gold Melt Value	Full Melt Value
Indian Head Gold (1907-1933 )	16.7	Gold 90%, Copper 10%

Indian Head Eagle $10 gold coins were first struck in 1907 and continued through 1933.  These gold coins are 27 millimeters in diameter, weigh 16.718 grams and are composed of 90% gold and 10% copper.   They have 46 stars, one for each state at the time, running along its edge instead of the traditional reeding.  In 1912 two more stars were added.

In 1907 there were two variations having “periods before and after” the reverse’s “.E.PLURIBUS..UNUM.”.  These strikes total less than six hundred coins.  There is a unique piece, without the stars on the edge.  These have two rim varieties: a “wire” rim (characteristic of the sharp contrast between the field and edge of the coin), which made them hard to stack and the “rounded” rim was created by adding a rim onto the die.

There are two types of the Indian Head Eagle.  Type I have “No Motto”; these include 1907 and several of the 1908s minted in Philadelphia and Denver have “No Motto”.   Type II are “With Motto”; these include the rest of 1908s P and D and all of S through the rest of this series which ended in 1933 when Federal law ended the use of gold for currency in the United States.

Theodor Roosevelt had been inspired by the ancient Greek coins in the Smithsonian Institute.  Saint-Gaudens had already well established himself as an important sculptor by 1905 and Theodor Roosevelt was persisted to have him design the next series of coins for the United States.  Saint-Gaudens had already designed Theodor Roosevelt’s unofficial Presidential Inaugural medal and he agreed for a sum of $5,000.  Saint-Gaudens was to design the penny, quarter eagle, half eagle, eagle, and double eagle.  For the next two years he would struggle with cancer his unfamiliarity with creating dies for striking coin, and a few unpleasant experiences with the US Mint’s officials.  The eagle and double eagle, of the five coins he was commissioned to design, were virtually ready for minting when he was overcome with cancer and departed on August 3, 1907.

The Indian Head Eagle’s obverse has the stately head of Liberty in a feathered Indian headdress, with “LIBERTY” along its headband.  This Liberty most likely comes from Augustus Saint-Gaudens’ designed “Victory”, also known as “Nike”, which was not used for his General William T. Sherman monument in New York City’s Central Park.  The headdress was Theodor Roosevelt’s idea.  The top of the coin has thirteen stars arching over the Liberty and her headdress along the rim.  Under Liberty’s neck is the date at the lowest edge of the coin.

The reverse has a bald eagle standing regally on bundle of arrows wrapped with an olive branch.  “TEN.DOLLARS” is directly underneath arcing along the rim on the lowest portion of the coin.  Arching along the rim at the very top of the coin runs “UNITED.STATES.OF.AMERICA”.  Above the shoulder of the eagle and towards the upper left is “E PLURIBUS UNUM” stacked.  Then with Type II in the “motto” left and center is stacked “IN GOD WE TRUST”.  The mint marks for Denver, “D”, and Seattle, “S”, are located on the lower left along the rim just above the tips of the olive leaves.

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