The Indian Head eagle is a $10 gold piece or
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
that was struck by the United States Mint continuously from 1907 until 1916, and then irregularly until 1933. The obverse and reverse were designed by sculptor
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. From a French-Irish family, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City, he trave ...
, originally commissioned for use on other denominations. He was suffering from cancer and did not survive to see the coins released.
Beginning in 1904, President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
proposed new, more artistic designs on US coins, prompting the Mint to hire Saint-Gaudens to create them. Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens at first considered a uniform design for the four denominations of coins which were struck in gold, but in 1907 Roosevelt decided to use a model for the obverse of the eagle that the sculptor had meant to use for the cent. For the reverse of the $10 coin, the President decided on a design featuring a standing bald eagle that had been developed for the
Saint-Gaudens double eagle
The Saint-Gaudens double eagle is a twenty-dollar gold coin, or double eagle, produced by the United States Mint from 1907 to 1933. The coin is named after its designer, the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who designed the obverse and reverse. I ...
$20 coin, while the obverse features a left-facing bust of
Liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
wearing an Indian feather headdress.
The coin as sculpted by Saint-Gaudens was too high in relief for the Mint to strike readily, and it took months to modify the design so that the coin could be struck by one blow of the Mint's presses. Saint-Gaudens died on August 3, 1907, and Roosevelt insisted that the new eagle be finished and struck that month. New pieces were given to the President on August 31 which differ from the coins struck later for circulation.
The omission of the motto "In God We Trust" on the new coins caused public outrage, and prompted Congress to pass a bill mandating its inclusion. Mint Chief Engraver
Charles E. Barber
Charles Edward Barber (November 16, 1840 – February 18, 1917) was an American coin engraver who served as the sixth chief engraver of the United States Mint from 1879 until his death in 1917. He had a long and fruitful career in coinage, desig ...
added the words and made minor modifications to the design. The
Indian Head Indian Head can refer to:
Coins
* Indian Head cent, U.S. one cent coin (1859–1909)
*Indian Head eagle, U.S. $10 gold piece issued between 1907 and 1933
*Indian Head gold pieces, U.S. coins issued between 1908 and 1929
*Indian Head nickel, U.S. f ...
eagle was struck regularly until 1916, and then intermittently until President
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
directed the Mint to stop producing gold coins in 1933. Its termination ended the series of eagles struck for circulation begun in 1795. Many Indian Head eagles were melted by the government in the late 1930s; the 1933 issue is a particular rarity, as few were distributed.
Inception
In 1904, President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
wrote to Secretary of the Treasury
Leslie Mortier Shaw
Leslie Mortier Shaw (November 2, 1848March 28, 1932) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He served as the 17th Governor of Iowa and was a Republican candidate in the 1908 United States presidential election.
Biography
Shaw was b ...
complaining that U.S. coinage lacked artistic merit. He suggested that the treasury engage a private artist to prepare new coin designs, such as sculptor
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. From a French-Irish family, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City, he trave ...
. At Roosevelt's direction, the Mint hired Saint-Gaudens to redesign the cent and the four gold pieces: the
double eagle
A double eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. (Its gold content of 0.9675 troy oz (30.0926 grams) was worth $20 at the 1849 official price of $20.67/oz.) The coins are 34 mm x 2 mm and are made from ...
($20),
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
($10),
half eagle
The half eagle is a United States coin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since 1983. Composed almost entirely of gold, its face value of five dollars is half that of the eagle coin. Prod ...
($5), and
quarter eagle
The quarter eagle was a gold coin issued by the United States with a value of two hundred and fifty cents, or two dollars and fifty cents. It was given its name in the Coinage Act of 1792, as a derivation from the US ten-dollar eagle coin.
Hist ...
($2.50). The Liberty Head design had been first struck for the eagle in 1838; the last addition to the Liberty Head gold series was the double eagle, first struck for circulation in 1850. The designs of those pieces had remained unchanged for more than 25 years, and they could be changed without an act of Congress.
In 1905, Mint Engraver
Charles E. Barber
Charles Edward Barber (November 16, 1840 – February 18, 1917) was an American coin engraver who served as the sixth chief engraver of the United States Mint from 1879 until his death in 1917. He had a long and fruitful career in coinage, desig ...
engraved the obverse of Roosevelt's inauguration medal, while his assistant
George T. Morgan
George Thomas Morgan (November 24, 1845 – January 4, 1925) was a United States Mint engraver who is famous for designing many popular coins, such as the Morgan dollar, the reverse of the Columbian Exposition half dollar, and the reverse of the ...
engraved the reverse. Roosevelt disliked the work and engaged Saint-Gaudens to design an unofficial medal commemorating
the inauguration. Saint-Gaudens foresaw resistance from Barber on the question of the new coinage; he wrote to his brother Louis, "Barber is a S.O.A.B.
on of a bitch
On, on, or ON may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews
* ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin
* ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995
* ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001
* ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...
but I had a talk with the President who ordered Secretary Shaw in my presence to cut Barber's head off if he didn't do our bidding".
![Saint-Gaudens Inaugural medal reverse cutout](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Saint-Gaudens_Inaugural_medal_reverse_cutout.jpg)
Roosevelt was impressed by some models that Saint-Gaudens had prepared for the cent showing a head of Liberty. In early 1907, he wrote to Saint-Gaudens proposing that an Indian war bonnet be added to the obverse of the cent: "I feel very strongly that on at least one coin we ought to have the Indian feather headdress. It is distinctly American, and very picturesque. Couldn't you have just such a head as you have now, but with the feather headdress?" Numismatic historian
Walter Breen
Walter Henry Breen Jr. (September 5, 1928 – April 27, 1993) was an American numismatist, writer, and convicted child sex offender; as well as the husband of author Marion Zimmer Bradley. He was known among coin collectors for writing ''Wa ...
describes this as "the absurd addition of a feathered warbonnet", and art historian
Cornelius Vermeule
Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule III (August 10, 1925 – November 27, 2008) was an American scholar of ancient art and curator of classical art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1957 to 1996. He was also well known as a numismatist. He als ...
states that the Indian Head eagle "missed being a great coin because Roosevelt interfered" with its design. Nonetheless, Saint-Gaudens added the headdress to the head of Liberty in February 1907. He was undecided about which design to use for the gold pieces, which were still intended to have a uniform appearance, and he proposed using the headdress Liberty for the double eagle. Roosevelt tentatively decided to use different designs on the eagle and double eagle, with the eagle to bear the headdress Liberty. The double eagle would show a Liberty striding forward, with a flying eagle on the reverse. The President was prepared to meet personally with Saint-Gaudens if he objected, but the sculptor was seriously ill with cancer and no meeting took place.
![Saint-Gaudens cent](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Saint-Gaudens_cent.jpg)
Mint Director
George E. Roberts
George Evan Roberts (August 19, 1857June 6, 1948) was Director of the United States Mint from 1898 to 1907, and again from 1910 to 1914.
Biography
George E. Roberts was born in Colesburg, Iowa, on August 19, 1857, the son of David and Mary (Harv ...
wrote to Saint-Gaudens on May 25, 1907: "It is now settled ... the design for the Eagle shall be the feather head of Liberty with the standing eagle". Saint-Gaudens and his assistants moved quickly on the revision, and he sent models of the new coin on June 1 with a letter stating that the relief of the new models should be coinable by the Mint. The double eagles were then being delayed because Saint-Gaudens had twice sent the Mint models with too high a relief that could not be struck in one blow, as required for circulating coinage. His letter was forwarded to the
Philadelphia Mint
The Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national ...
, where Superintendent John Landis had Mint Chief Engraver
Charles E. Barber
Charles Edward Barber (November 16, 1840 – February 18, 1917) was an American coin engraver who served as the sixth chief engraver of the United States Mint from 1879 until his death in 1917. He had a long and fruitful career in coinage, desig ...
read and initial it. On June 7, Barber responded to Landis:
![Metal double eagle sketch cutout](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Metal_double_eagle_sketch_cutout.jpg)
Roberts wrote to Saint-Gaudens on June 11 suggesting that there might be problems with the date and the relief; he received no response and wrote again on June 18. This time the sculptor responded, writing that he had been awaiting the return of his assistant
Henry Hering
Henry Hering (February 15, 1874 – January 15, 1949) was an American sculptor.
Early career
He was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Cooper Union and of Philip Martiny at the Art Students League of New York. He then went to Paris wher ...
, who had handled much of the dealings with the Mint. He agreed that Roman numerals were ill-advised for the eagle, and he sent new models to the Mint on June 24. Barber used these models to prepare a die, along with a bronze casting which was produced privately, and the Mint struck experimental pieces on July 19. These "high relief" pieces required multiple strikes of the press to fully bring up the design. Saint-Gaudens wrote to the Mint in mid-July, "I am waiting to know about this in order to proceed with the other reliefs", and he was sent one of the new pieces, along with a Liberty Head eagle for comparison.
On July 19, Roberts sent a similar pair of coins to Secretary of the Treasury
George Cortelyou
George Bruce Cortelyou (July 26, 1862October 23, 1940) was an American Cabinet of the United States, Cabinet secretary of the early twentieth century. He held various positions in the presidential administrations of Grover Cleveland, William McKi ...
, noting that Saint-Gaudens used a smooth finish to the design rather than the sharp die work characteristic of the Liberty gold pieces, and he suggested that this might encourage counterfeiting. Roberts communicated these concerns to Saint-Gaudens, who requested casts of the dies used to strike the new pieces; the casts were sent to his house in
Cornish, New Hampshire
Cornish is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,616 at the 2020 census. Cornish has four covered bridges. Each August, it is home to the Cornish Fair.
History
The town was granted in 1763 and contained a ...
on July 28. Saint-Gaudens died there of cancer on August 3, 1907, and Roosevelt wrote to his widow Augusta, "I count it as one of the privileges of my administration to have had him make two of our coins".
Preparations
![Roberts medal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Roberts_medal.jpg)
Roberts left office on July 31, 1907 to become president of the
Commercial National Bank of Chicago. As his successor,
San Francisco Mint
The San Francisco Mint is a branch of the United States Mint. Opened in 1854 to serve the gold mines of the California Gold Rush, in twenty years its operations exceeded the capacity of the first building. It moved into a new one in 1874, now kno ...
Superintendent
Frank A. Leach, did not take office until November 1, former Mint Director Robert Preston served as acting director in the interim.
On August 7, Roosevelt ordered Secretary Cortelyou to have the designs for the eagle and double eagle finalized and in production by September 1. With Landis on vacation, Cortelyou passed the President's letter on to the acting Philadelphia Mint superintendent, Dr. Albert A. Norris, instructing him to "have this matter taken up at once and the President's instructions carried out; and everything possible must be done to expedite the work." Preston wrote to Roberts, asking for information about the new coinage, and the former Mint director responded on August 12, outlining the correspondence with Saint-Gaudens, and noting that "no instructions have been received from the President as to the half and quarter eagle, but I expected that the eagle design would be used upon them ... The President concluded to leave the One Cent piece unchanged, and there has been no discussion about any change in the Nickel piece."
In response to the President's instructions, Barber wrote to Norris informing him that the design for the eagle had been awaiting approval since July, making no mention of the Mint's desire for sharper die work. Norris noted in his subsequent letter to Acting Director Preston that the Mint had been having trouble with the collar, which would strike the edge of the coin and impress 46 stars, representing the number of states there would be after
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
's already scheduled admission to the Union later in 1907. Mint authorities had turned unsuccessfully to their counterparts in Paris for advice, but the Mint's machine shop was able to perfect the collar. Norris defended Barber in his letter to Preston,
![1907 wire edge eagle cutout](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/1907_wire_edge_eagle_cutout.jpg)
In late August, Augusta Saint-Gaudens sent new models for the eagle to Acting Director Preston. When Barber examined them, he noted, "dies made from these models would be a great improvement over those already made" and stated that with these models, the Mint could have the eagle in full production within a month.
Homer Saint-Gaudens
Homer Shiff Saint-Gaudens (1880-1953) was the only child of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his wife Augusta (née Homer). He served as the Director of the Art Museum of the Carnegie Institute and was a founder of the Saint-Gaudens Memoria ...
, the sculptor's son, wrote to Preston, "Mr. Hering has finally finished the eagle at a relief slightly lower than that on the French
oldcoin by Chaplin,
Chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
] which is the lowest relief that Mr. Hering knew my father would abide by, and which I understand Mr. Barber can mint." In the meantime, Cortelyou ordered 500 pieces struck on the Mint's high-pressure medal press from the dies the Mint had from Saint-Gaudens's earlier efforts, thus complying with the letter of the President's August 7 order. Preston sent a note to Norris, warning that the President would likely order 100 pieces and suggesting that he have the coins available "so you can furnish them without a moment's delay". According to numismatic historian Roger Burdette, "these were an 'insurance policy', put in place by Cortelyou against additional presidential rage". The President viewed sample eagle coins on August 31, and expressed his satisfaction with them and his desire to see more struck.
As Saint-Gaudens's design did not include a rim (the raised surface which surrounds each side of a coin), excess metal was forming a "fin" or extrusion from the coin. The fin was easily broken off, and there was a threat that the eagles would quickly become underweight, diminishing their usefulness as a trade coin. Barber engraved a rim onto the die, eliminating the problem.
About five hundred pieces had been struck from Saint-Gauden's original dies; these were struck on the medal press and were for the most part distributed to government officials. They are referred to as "wire rim" pieces, denoting the sharp angle at which the field of the coin meets the edge without the intermediary of a rim. They remained available for purchase from the Mint for face value at least until 1912. One sold at auction in January 2011 for $230,000. A total of 32,000 eagles were struck using the Barber-modified Saint-Gaudens dies, for the most part using ordinary coinage presses. These are known as the "rounded rim" pieces. On November 9, 1907, with the dies made from the low relief Saint-Gaudens models in full production, Frank Leach, the new Mint director, decided to have 31,950 of the rounded rim specimens melted, saving only fifty. According to Leach in his memoirs, these "were given to museums of art and officials and others connected with the work". The surviving rounded rim specimens can be readily distinguished from later 1907 strikes, as they have dots before, between, and after the words "Ten Dollars" on the reverse. One, which had been in the possession of the Leach family for a century, sold in January 2011 for $2,185,000.
Mint Director Leach described the pieces in a report to Cortelyou summarizing the redesign project:
Design
![Saint Gaudens victory head](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Saint_Gaudens_victory_head.jpg)
Saint-Gaudens based his head of Liberty on a model that he had sculpted but not used for the statue of Victory in the
William Tecumseh Sherman Monument in New York City, still believing that the design would be considered for the cent. The bust of Harriet Eugenia Anderson also inspired Saint-Gaudens in his model and bas-relief ''ΝΙΚΗ ΕΙΡΗΝΗ'' (Greek for victory and peace). His reverse design was an eagle standing on a sheaf of arrows with an olive branch at its feet; this was his original concept for the reverse of the double eagle, and it bears a close similarity to his reverse for the inaugural medal. His ultimate inspiration for the reverse, by one account, was a coin of
Ptolemy I of Egypt
Ptolemy I Soter (; gr, Πτολεμαῖος Σωτήρ, ''Ptolemaîos Sōtḗr'' "Ptolemy the Savior"; c. 367 BC – January 282 BC) was a Macedonian Greek general, historian and companion of Alexander the Great from the Kingdom of Macedon ...
portraying a standing eagle which was illustrated in a book that he owned and had lent to Roosevelt.
Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth call the details of the coin "a trifle fantastic". They point to the unlikeliness of any female wearing a head-dress only donned by a male warrior, and they describe the word "LIBERTY" on the headdress as "placed incongruously".
Release and production
The new eagles entered circulation around November 4, 1907, although Leach did not receive formal approval to issue the pieces until December 19.
As early as November 7, articles were appearing in newspapers noting the omission of the motto "
In God We Trust
"In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, official motto of the United States and of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing ("Out of many, one"), whic ...
" on the eagle, and the Mint soon began to receive many complaints. Roosevelt believed that using God's name on coins was sacrilegious, and had confirmed with government lawyers that no law required the motto's use. Saint-Gaudens wanted to include only the minimum of lettering on the new coins, and was content to omit the motto. According to his son Homer, as Saint-Gaudens considered "the motto 'In God We Trust' as an artistic intrusion not required by law, he wholly discarded
tand thereby drew down on himself the lightning of public comment". The
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
passed a bill ordering the use of the motto on the new eagle and double eagle (which also lacked the phrase) in March 1908; the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
followed suit in May. Roosevelt, finding public opinion against him, signed the bill into law that month. Barber duly placed the motto on the reverse, to the left of the eagle's breast. On the "No Motto pieces" struck at the
Denver Mint
The Denver Mint is a branch of the United States Mint that struck its first coins on February 1, 1906. The mint is still operating and producing coins for circulation, as well as mint sets and commemorative coins. Coins produced at the Denver Min ...
in 1908 (catalogued as 1908-D), the
mintmark
A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It should not be confused with a mintmaster mark which is the mark of the mintmaster.
History
Mint marks were first developed to locate ...
"D" appears above the leaves near the eagle's feet on the reverse; on the pieces with motto struck both at Denver and at
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
(mintmark S) beginning in 1908, the mintmark appears to the left of the arrow on which the bird stands. Barber also made other, minor changes in the coin; according to Breen, "Aside from the addition of the motto, none of Barber's niggling changes are defensible as improvements, unless one insists that more of the first U of UNUM ''had'' to show. Nor is striking quality increased."
Denver mintmarks from 1908 to 1910 are much larger than those in subsequent years; San Francisco mintmarks are consistently small. With the admission of
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
and
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
as states in 1912, the number of stars on the edge was increased from 46 to 48.
The coin was struck every year from 1907 to 1916. During World War I, with gold coins commanding a premium above face value and many gold pieces returning from Europe to pay for war materials, there was little need for new gold coins; coinage of eagles was discontinued after 1916. Subsequently, Indian Head eagles were struck only in 1920 (at San Francisco), 1926 (at Philadelphia), 1930 (at San Francisco), and final Philadelphia issues in 1932 and 1933. In March 1933, President
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
ordered that no more gold in the form of coins be released from the Treasury; the Mint subsequently stopped its production of gold coins, ending the eagle series that had begun in 1795.
On December 28, 1933, Acting Secretary of the Treasury
Henry Morgenthau ordered Americans to turn in all gold coins and gold certificates, with limited exceptions, receiving paper money in payment. Millions of gold coins were melted down by the Treasury in the following years. Many of the gold coins seen today had been exported to Europe before 1933 and repatriated once restrictions on holding gold were ended.
Collecting
![Pt eagle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Pt_eagle.png)
With the exception of the 1907 high relief pieces, no date or mintmark of the circulation strikes of the Indian Head eagle before 1920 is particularly rare. The 1911-D, with a mintage of 30,100 commands a significant premium in
mint state
The Sheldon Coin Grading Scale is a 70-point coin grading scale used in the numismatic assessment of a coin's quality. The American Numismatic Association based its ''Official ANA Grading Standards'' in large part on the Sheldon scale. The scale w ...
or uncirculated condition, but only a modest one in circulated grades. Despite its mintage of 126,500, the 1920-S is a major rarity. It was little collected at the time, and with Europe still recovering from the war, few coins were exported there; accordingly, most were melted post-1933. Only a handful of 1933 eagles were distributed before Roosevelt ended the paying out of gold, and virtually the entire mintage of 312,500 was melted. One sold in 2004, graded
MS-66 (the finest example of this date known) for $718,750. Approximately forty 1933 eagles are known to have survived.
Proof coin
Proof coinage refers to special early samples of a coin issue, historically made for checking the dies (as in demonstrating that something is true) and for archival purposes. Nowadays proofs are often struck in greater numbers specially for c ...
s were struck from 1907 until 1915, all at Philadelphia. Not all quantities are known, but the highest for which the number struck is known is 1910, with a mintage of 204 (one sold for $80,500 in 2006). One of the surviving specimens of the mostly melted rounded rim pieces is in proof; this unique specimen is in private hands. Numismatic expert Mike Fuljenz, in his book on the gold pieces with Indian designs struck in the early 20th century, suggests that this coin was a trial piece, resulting from the test of new dies. Different finishes are known for the proof coins. The unique 1907 piece is in satin proof (the raised designs appear like satin), but later proof eagles were struck in a dark
matte
Matte may refer to:
Art
* paint with a non-glossy finish. See diffuse reflection.
* a framing element surrounding a painting or watercolor within the outer frame
Film
* Matte (filmmaking), filmmaking and video production technology
* Matte p ...
finish. Some 1908–1910 proof eagles were struck in a lighter "Roman finish".
References
Notes
Bibliography
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Online
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United States gold coins
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