1897 $10 Liberty Head Eagle NGC AU53

Here’s a more affordable piece in its assigned grade of AU53. Please take a look at the photos of this piece—and then imagine holding it in your hand, calling it your own. NGC has graded 24 of them as AU53 with 11,235 finer. Collector’s Universe prices this issue at $1,510.00 in AU53.

The Second Philadelphia Mint, where this piece was struck in 1897. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Discussing the design found upon the Liberty Head eagle, numismatist and art historian Cornelius Vermeule writes, "Gobrecht executed new designs (1838) for the $10 denomination in gold, a coin known as an eagle. The bust of Liberty with an inscribed coronet in her hair that graced the obverse was to remain on the gold coinage until 1908." The reverse differed little from the design in use since 1807 on the $5 gold piece, save that the wings of the eagle spread from one edge of the coin to the other.