1910-D $10 Indian Head Eagle PCGS MS65 (CAC)

Here is a truly beautiful coin crafted by one of our most gifted artists, Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Even though it has a significant mintage of 2,356,640, it is not easy to acquire an example in a premium gem grade. PCGS has graded 125 as MS65 with 65 finer. In CAC there are 33 in MS65 with 16 finer. Collectors Universe prices this at $12,000.00, while CAC gives it a price of $10,000.00.

Gold specialist David Akers writes, " The strike on a typical 1910-D is very sharp, and the lustre is generally good to very good...All specimens I have seen are frosty with finely granular surfaces, and the color is most often a light to medium orange and greenish gold."

Theodore Roosevelt, the numismatic president.

President Theodore Roosevelt initiated the change in U.S. coinage in collaboration with sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. It was his passion. For two and a half years, Roosevelt found the time, even in the midst of political and diplomatic struggles, to be deeply involved in numismatics. It was with a critical eye that the President followed every step in Saint-Gaudens’ work, making suggestions throughout the process.

He didn’t care that Treasury Secretary Shaw thought he was “a cracked-brained lunatic on the subject.” The most obvious innovation from Roosevelt’s creative mind vis-à-vis the coins was in the case of the Liberty head on the $10 eagle. He requested that Saint-Gaudens replace the Phrygian cap in his original design with a traditional Indian feather headdress. The artist agreed wholeheartedly with the argument that “American Liberty should, if possible, have something distinctly American about her.”