1913 $10 Indian Head Eagle PCGS AU58

Affordable type coin with a stunning design by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of our preeminent sculptors and medalists. PCGS has graded 1,020 in AU58 with 5,901 finer. David Akers writes, "The 1913 is typically very sharply struck, and the lustre ranks right up there with the very best in the series. Color varies somewhat but light to medium yellow and greenish gold are the colors most often seen. Some examples also have light rose, orange or coppery highlights. The surfaces ... can be either fully frosty or somewhat satiny. Top grade examples of the 1913 are among the most attractive of the series."

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.”