1915 $10 Indian Head Eagle PCGS MS62

We at AUCM are indeed pleased to offer a real beauty: a 1915 $10 Indian Head, graded PCGS MS62. Gold expert David Akers tells us, "The 1915 is always very sharply struck with frosty, virtually non-granular surfaces and very good to excellent lustre. The color is also usually excellent, most often a medium to rich greenish gold with rose or orange highlights. There are some really gorgeous examples of this issue in existence from an overall 'eye appeal' standpoint." Along the same lines, Jeff Garrett writes, "Most seen are well struck and fully lustrous and this date stands out as one of the finer examples of this design to come off the dies." This piece is priced to sell, for it would be a perfect type coin for a set of U.S. gold coinage.

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.”