How The $10 Indian American Gold Coin Was Changed
The renowned master sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, was commissioned in 1905 by President Teddy Roosevelt, to create a totally new look and design for the American gold coins. President Roosevelt, who favored the ancient Greek tradition of coinage, requested that these gold coins be created in this manner with fresh and new designs.
The obverse side of the coin depicted Miss Liberty all adorned in an Indian War Bonnet. This came about when Mr. St-Gaudens mixed two separate traditions for the $10 gold coin... that is using the prior Miss Liberty profile, and then adding the feathered Indian headdress. The newly designed American gold coin had an unusual edge that consisted of 46 stars, representing the 46 states that comprised the Union at that time. Later, in 1912, New Mexico and Arizona joined the union and 2 more stars were added.
The reverse of the new $10 gold coin design featured a very proud eagle perched upon a bundle of arrows. Many who saw this new and magnificent design considered this to be one of the U.S. finest works of design in gold art. To this day, it remains one of the finest works by this great sculptor.
Mintages of this outstanding $10 Indian American gold coin were extremely limited and this added to its rarity and very high desirability by many collectors. The actual total number of these Indian gold coins minted were far less that the even a single year's mintage of the Morgan silver dollar, and in fact, from 1907 to 1933, the coins were only struck intermittently. Then, in 1933, the Treasury recalled American gold coins, and millions of them were melted down and destroyed forever.
The $10 Indian gold coin is a part of American history and highly sought after by many coin and gold collectors. It is recommended for your gold coin collection, with the more popular dates being 1926 through 1929.
Meticulous In Detail With Stunning Eye Appeal—Unique Quarter Eagle Coins
One of the most sought after coins, which a collector would love to add to his or her collection, is the rare Quarter Eagle. These exquisite coins, which are of the highest value, were minted in the 1800’s. The rarity of these eagle quarters was realized as early as the 1920’s by collectors. The most valuable one is the Liberty Gold Eagle, which was minted from 1816 through 1857, featuring a new design by Christian Gobrecht. His composition of Miss Liberty’s head became the most widely accepted and long-lasting of all coinage designs of the nineteenth century. This particular coin has, on the obverse, the inspiring image of Lady Liberty, facing to the left, with “Liberty” inscribed on her crown. She also has thirteen stars surrounding her. The reverse has the American bald eagle, with a shield on its chest and an olive branch and arrows clutched in its talons.
Another one of the hard-to-find quarter eagles, which are highly coveted, is the proof 1878 Quarter Eagle. This proof was actually part of only three other proofs that had a minting of less than twenty in total. Many of the gold proofs that were minted only had a run of about one hundred total, during the entire history of the eagle quarters. During the 1800’s to the early 1900’s, proofs were struck in gold for the sole purpose of collectors. The 1878 Quarter Eagle is one of the most uncommon quarter eagles that can still be found. It is reported that there are maybe only a handful of these quarters still in existence. There are two of these rare quarters that have been impounded and stored. One is at the Smithsonian and the other is at the American Numismatists Society. It has been reported, that in recent years, there have been only a few show up on the auction market, which have turned quite a bit of profit for the person who was selling them.
The reason that the unique quarter eagles are so sought after is the fact that they were struck with such a high gold content. These particular eagles were put into production by an act of Congress in 1792, as a derivation of the ten dollar eagle. Since there were very few of these quarters struck prior to 1832, it adds to their rarity. It was initially valued at $2.50, but is worth so much more in today’s terms. Some of these difficult-to-locate quarter eagles have been known to sell for in upwards of millions of dollars, depending on the overall grade of the coin. There are many variations of these quarter eagles. Some of these are the Liberty Head, the Capped Head and the Indian Head quarters. You would be very hard pressed to find any serious collector who wouldn’t want to add one of these quarters to his or her collection. Part of the reason it is so hard to find one of these rare quarters, is the fact that the life expectancy of proof gold was only half of its original mintage. During the entire history of the quarter eagle, there were only two that were also associated with commemorative coins. These were the 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition Quarter Eagle and the 1926 Independence Sesquicentennial Quarter Eagle. Whether for fun or for profit, collecting these bullion coins is an investment in the history of our great nation.
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