1911-D $10 Indian Head Eagle PCGS MS62

Here’s a rare piece to add to your collection, one that is difficult to come by in mint state grades. PCGS has graded 96 examples as MS62 with 71 finer. Collectors Universe gives this issue a price of $15,000.00 in MS62. 

Jeff Garrett and Ron Guth, in their book, Encyclopedia of U.S. Gold Coins, 1794-1933 (2006) make the following observations about this issue: "The low mintage combined with the dismal survival rate leaves collectors with very few to choose from.... All Indian Head eagle collections are judged to some degree on the quality of the 1911-D issue."  Only 30,100 pieces were struck at the Denver mint. Thus the 1911-D is especially difficult for collectors of Mint State specimens to locate. According to the authors of The Coinage of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Ivy Press, 2006), one reason for the lack of availability of Mint State examples of this piece is that "almost all of the freshly struck coins were dispersed quickly into circulation, with few held back by collectors."

The Denver Mint, where this rarity was produced in 1911. Photo: wikimedia commons.