$10 Indian Head
1907-1933

Designer: Augustus St. Gaudens  Mintage:
No Motto (1907-1908): 483 thousand
With Motto (1908-1933): 14.4 million

Also refer to General Information on US Gold Coins.

In late 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt asked renowned American sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens to redesign the $10 ‘eagle’ and $20 ‘double eagle’.  President Roosevelt thought the existing US coins were ugly and wanted American coins to be as beautiful as the coins of ancient Greece.  St. Gaudens produced an ‘eagle’ with the bust of ‘Victory’ on the obverse and a standing eagle on the reverse.  President Roosevelt insisted that St. Gaudens add a rather improbable feathered warbonnet to Victory, which has given the coin its name.  The designs St. Gaudens produced for the eagle and double eagle had substantially higher relief than then-existing coins.  (High-relief coins look more like sculptures, while low-relief coins are rather ‘flat’ in appearance.)  High-relief coins are more time-consuming to produce, as they require several blows of the coin press, and they do not stack as well as lower-relief coins.  In response to these complaints, Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, who had taken over responsibility for completing St. Gaudens’ designs following his death in August 1907, modified the eagle’s design by lowering the relief.  Only about 500 coins of St. Gaudens’ original eagle design survived his death, the rest of the “Indian Head” eagles are Barber’s modified (lower-relief) design.

Types: 1) No-motto: Coins minted 1907-1908.  President Roosevelt had insisted that “In God We Trust” not appear on the coins because he believed it nearly blasphemous to use God’s name on coins that might be used for immoral or illegal purposes.  2) With-motto: Coins minted 1908-1933, which have the motto “In God We Trust” on the reverse.  In 1908 Congress, apparently outraged that the motto had been removed from the coins, insisted on its reinstatement in accordance with the 1865 legislation that directed that the motto be placed on all coins large enough to allow it.  Note: coins minted 1907-1911 have 46 stars on the edge, coins minted 1912-1933 have 48 stars, to mark the admission of New Mexico and Arizona to the United States.

Mints: Minted in Philadelphia (1907-1915, 1926, 1932-1933), Denver (1908-1911, 1914) and San Francisco (1908-1916, 1920, 1930).  The bulk of the 1920 and 1930 San Francisco and 1933 Philadelphia mintages were melted at the mints in 1933.

Specifications: Size: 27 millimeters; Alloy: 90% gold, 10% copper; Weight: 16.718 grams (15.046 grams or 0.484 troy oz. of pure gold).

Variety 1 - No Motto

Variety 2 - Motto

Back to U.S. Gold Page / Gold Content