1907 $10 Indian Head Eagle, No Motto PCGS MS66

Here’s a beautiful piece in a gem grade that any numismatist would be proud to own. The Indian Head Eagle design is among the masterpieces of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor and medalist. It was over dinner at the White House that Saint-Gaudens and President Theodore Roosevelt discussed coin designs, with the President confessing to his guest that the redesign of all U.S. coins was going to be his “pet crime.”

In fact, it was Roosevelt who “bullied” Saint-Gaudens into adding the traditional and iconic Indian feather headdress to the Liberty on the $10 Eagle, giving it the $10 “Indian” name. PCGS has graded 120 as MS66 with 48 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $22,500.00 in MS66.

President Theodore Roosevelt, who collaborated with Saint-Gaudens during his presidency on the creation of the $10 gold eagle (as well as the $20 double eagle coin). He spoke eloquently in a memorial speech honoring the artist after his passing. Photo: wikipedia.

After his death, Theodore Roosevelt honored Augustus Saint-Gaudens as an artist and friend by saying in a 1908 memorial speech that his double eagle and eagle were “more beautiful than any coins since the days of the Greeks, and they achieve their striking beauty because Saint-Gaudens not only possessed a perfect mastery in the physical address of his craft, but also a daring and original imagination.”

In a thank you letter to Roosevelt, Saint-Gaudens’ widow, Augusta, wrote, “Such a tribute from you would, I know, have meant much to him especially the recognition of his labor on the coins into which he put his whole heart. Your presence with Mrs. Roosevelt gave to the memorial a character and meaning which without you it could not have happened and I hardly know how to thank you both for this expression of your friendliness now that he is gone.”