1910 $10 Indian Head Eagle PCGS MS62+

Here is a very attractive piece to add to your collection, one that was designed by the preeminent sculptor and medalist Augustus Saint-Gaudens. PCGS has graded 74 as MS62+ with 2,297 finer. Collector’s Universe gives this issue a price of $2,000.00 in MS62+.

President Theodore Roosevelt convinced Saint-Gaudens to add the Indian feather headdress to the $10 Eagle coin. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens took inspiration from the classical figure of Nike (Victory) when he drafted initial designs for a cent piece that was not developed further. This profile of Nike, bedecked with an olive wreath, became the obverse motif for this Eagle coin. President Theodore Roosevelt saw Saint-Gaudens' design for the eagle, and was not happy with it. He made his feelings known--and offered an artistic suggestion--in a letter to him dated November 14, 1905. Wrote Roosevelt, "...is it possible to make a Liberty with that Indian feather head-dress? ... Would the feather headdress be any more out of keeping with the rest of Liberty than the canonical Phyrgian cap which is never worn by any free people in the world?"