Indian Head Eagle $10 (1907–1933) Series Guide: What’s It Worth?

Specifications

Denomination

Eagle

Series

Indian Head eagle

Designer

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Years of issue

1907–1933

Weight

16.718 g

Diameter

27 mm

The 1907–1933 Indian Head eagle — Saint-Gaudens’ $10 gold piece with incuse design and a starred edge, home to some of the greatest rarities in 20th-century gold.

History

• The Indian Head eagle was part of President Theodore Roosevelt’s campaign to make American coinage beautiful. He commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1905, and the $10 eagle — like the $20 double eagle — carries his designs. Saint-Gaudens drew inspiration from the Smithsonian’s collection of ancient Greek coins, which Roosevelt had viewed in 1905 (Provident).
• The obverse shows Liberty wearing a Native American war bonnet, an idea Roosevelt insisted on, ringed by 13 stars; the portrait traces to Saint-Gaudens’ earlier Sherman monument. The reverse shows an eagle standing on a bundle of arrows, clutching an olive branch, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, and TEN DOLLARS — IN GOD WE TRUST was added in 1908 (Provident; Wikipedia).
• The entire design is incuse — sunk below the coin’s surface rather than raised — the only regular U.S. coinage ever made that way. The edge carries raised stars: 46 from 1907 through 1911, and 48 from 1912 through 1933 (Wikipedia).
• The first year produced three varieties: the Wire Edge (mintage 500), the Rolled Edge (31,500 struck, most melted, leaving perhaps 50 survivors), and the regular Rounded Edge with no motto (Numismatic News).
• Total production for the series was 13,070,583 pieces including proofs; the 1920-S, 1930-S, and 1933 coins were melted almost in their entirety (Coin Community, courtesy NGC).

What is it worth

• Common circulated dates carry roughly half an ounce of gold (0.48375 oz), so they track the gold market closely plus a collector premium (Wikipedia; Provident).
• Key dates are a different world: older Coin Market figures put the 1907 Wire Edge around $11,000 in VF-20 and $124,000 in MS-65, the 1907 Rolled Edge near $24,500 in VF-20 and $325,000 in MS-65, and the 1920-S around $16,500 in VF-20, $55,000 in MS-60, and $275,000 in MS-65 (Numismatic News).
• The 1933 is the series crown: the Red Book cited a 2016 Goldberg sale of an MS-66 at $881,250, and Coin Market figures put it around $165,000 in MS-60, $225,000 in MS-63, and $408,000 in MS-65 (Numismatic News).

Key dates in the series

• 1907 Wire Edge — mintage 500; the first-strike showpiece of the series (Numismatic News).
• 1907 Rolled Edge — 31,500 struck with most melted; one of the great 20th-century gold rarities (Numismatic News).
• 1920-S — mintage 126,500; few survived the great gold melts, and Mint State examples are major rarities (Numismatic News; USAGold).
• 1930-S — mintage 96,000; most remained in Treasury vaults and were melted in the 1933 Gold Recall. It ranks as the 4th rarest of the 32 coins in the series (Heritage).
• 1933 — mintage 312,500; virtually the entire issue was melted, leaving a handful of survivors (Numismatic News; USAGold).
• Also elusive in Mint State: the 1909-D, 1911-D, 1913-S, and 1915-S (Coin Community).

What drives the premium

• Mint mark and date: San Francisco issues — especially the 1920-S and 1930-S — and the 1933 Philadelphia issue carry the strongest premiums (Numismatic News; Heritage).
• First-year varieties: the Wire Edge and Rolled Edge are collected as distinct rarities with their own markets (Numismatic News).
• Condition: because the design is incuse, wear shows differently than on raised-relief coins — check the high points above Liberty’s eye and cheek and the top of the eagle’s wing, where wear appears first (Coin Community).
• Gold content: common dates are effectively half-ounce gold pieces, so the melt floor moves with gold (Wikipedia).

Specifications

• Denomination: $10 (Wikipedia)
• Composition: 90% gold, 10% copper (Wikipedia)
• Weight: 16.718 g (Wikipedia)
• Gold content: 0.48375 troy oz AGW (Wikipedia)
• Diameter: 27 mm (Provident)
• Edge: Raised stars — 46 (1907–1911), 48 (1912–1933) (Wikipedia)
• Designer: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (Wikipedia)
• Mints: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco (Provident)
• Years: 1907–1933 (Wikipedia)

Collector notes

• Do not confuse this $10 eagle with the $5 Indian Head half eagle — the site’s existing 1909-O and 1929 key entries cover the half eagle, a different denomination (The Coin Wiki).
• The 1908 comes with and without the motto IN GOD WE TRUST; the No Motto issues are the scarcer one-year type (Provident).
• Because the design is incuse, these coins stack neatly and wore evenly in commerce — but they are also easy to mistake for cast copies at a glance, so buy keys certified (Coin Community).
• Original mint luster on incuse coins looks different from raised-relief gold; study certified examples before buying raw (Coin Community).

Market check

Sources

• Wikipedia — Indian Head eagle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Head_eagle
• Numismatic News — Indian Head eagle rarities: https://www.numismaticnews.net/collecting-101/my-favorite-coins-indian-head-eagle
• Numismatic News — 1920-S survivors: https://www.numismaticnews.net/archive/few-1920-s-eagles-survived-the-great-gold-melt
• Heritage — 1930-S eagle: https://coins.ha.com/itm/indian-eagles/1930-s-10-ms64-pcgs/a/1121-4129.s
• USAGold — coin lookbook (mintages): https://www.usagold.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/USAGold-Coin-Lookbook-FA-08082025-web-file.pdf
• Coin Community — Indian Head eagle history (courtesy NGC): https://www.coincommunity.com/coin_histories/eagle_1907_gold_indian_head.asp
• Provident Metals — Indian Head eagle history: https://www.providentmetals.com/10-indian-head-us-mint-gold-eagle-extra-fine-xf-or-better.html
• The Coin Wiki — 1909-O Indian half eagle: https://thecoinwiki.co/usa/1909-o-indian-half-eagle/
• The Coin Wiki — 1929 Indian half eagle: https://thecoinwiki.co/usa/1929-indian-half-eagle/

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