Written by the Maison Or & Bijoux Le Havre team · updated
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Metal | Gold, 900‰ fine (90% gold, 10% copper) |
| Weight | 16.718 g |
| Fine gold | 15.046 g |
| Diameter | About 27 mm (26.8 to 27 mm depending on the source for the Liberty type; 26.92 mm for the Indian type according to Wikipedia) |
| Denomination | 10 dollars (eagle) |
| Years struck | 1838 to 1907 for the Liberty type, 1907 to 1933 for the Indian type |
| Mints | Philadelphia (no mark), New Orleans (O), San Francisco (S), Carson City (CC), Denver (D); the Indian type was struck only at Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco |
| Edge | Reeded (Liberty); starred (Indian) |
In the United States the $10 gold coin is called an eagle. Two types account for most of the pieces you come across: Christian Gobrecht's Liberty head with a coronet, struck from 1838 to 1907, then Augustus Saint-Gaudens's Liberty in a feathered headdress, from 1907 to 1933. Both carry the same weight of gold, 900 fine, on about 27 mm. What changes is the design, the edge and the position of the mint mark.
Liberty type (1838-1907): Liberty in profile facing left, her hair tied in a bun, wearing a coronet inscribed “LIBERTY”, with thirteen stars and the date. Indian type (1907-1933): bust of Liberty facing left in a feathered headdress bearing the word “LIBERTY”, below thirteen stars.
Liberty type: eagle holding an olive branch and arrows, “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” around and “TEN D.” below the eagle. From 1866 a scroll above the eagle's head carries the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST”. The mint mark sits below the eagle, above “TEN D.”. Indian type: eagle standing on a sheaf of arrows encircled by an olive branch; the motto, missing in 1907 and early 1908, was then placed to the left of the eagle's breast. The mint mark is to the left of the arrows.
To place a coin, read the date, then look for the mint mark on the reverse. On the Liberty type it is below the eagle, just above “TEN D.”; on the Indian type it is to the left of the sheaf of arrows. No letter means Philadelphia. The table gives landmarks, not the full list of dates.
| Year | Type | Mint | Mintage | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1838 | Liberty | Philadelphia | unknown | First date: the eagle returns after the 1804 halt. |
| 1839 | Liberty | Philadelphia | unknown | Gobrecht refines the neck and hair; this design lasts until 1907. |
| 1854 | Liberty | San Francisco | unknown | First San Francisco eagles (S). |
| 1866 | Liberty | Philadelphia and San Francisco | unknown | The motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears on the reverse. |
| 1870 | Liberty | Carson City | unknown | First Carson City eagles (CC), a rare date. |
| 1875 | Liberty | Philadelphia | 100 | Lowest business-strike mintage of the Liberty type. |
| 1879 | Liberty | Four mints | unknown | New Orleans reopens: four mints strike eagles. |
| 1880 | Liberty | Philadelphia | about 1,644,800 | Common date; no 1880 eagle is rare, whatever the mint. |
| 1883 | Liberty | New Orleans | 800 | Lowest mintage from any branch mint for this denomination. |
| 1893 | Liberty | Carson City | unknown | Last year of Carson City. |
| 1906 | Liberty | Denver | unknown | First Denver eagles (D). |
| 1907 | Liberty | Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco | unknown | Last year of the Liberty type. |
| 1907 | Indian | Philadelphia | about 500 | Wire rim, struck mostly for officials. |
| 1907 | Indian | Philadelphia | 239,406 | Circulation version, no periods around “TEN DOLLARS”, no motto. |
| 1908 | Indian | Denver | 210,000 | No motto: the D sits above the leaves, near the eagle's feet. |
| 1908 | Indian | Philadelphia | 341,370 | The motto IN GOD WE TRUST returns. |
| 1912 | Indian | All | unknown | The edge goes from 46 to 48 stars. |
| 1920 | Indian | San Francisco | 126,500 | Almost all melted after 1933: a major rarity. |
| 1930 | Indian | San Francisco | 96,000 | Low mintage. |
| 1933 | Indian | Philadelphia | 312,500 | Almost all melted; about forty known. |
Mintages from Wikipedia for the Indian type, from Collectors Key and Doug Winter (RareGoldCoins) for 1875 and 1883-O; 1880: 1,644,840 or 1,644,876 on the same Collectors Key page. Mint dates from Collectors Key and Doug Winter. Selective list, not exhaustive.
A first glance is enough. The Liberty of the Liberty type wears a simple coronet and a bun; the Liberty of the Indian type wears a large feathered headdress. On the reverse, the Liberty-type eagle holds a branch and arrows in its talons; the Indian-type eagle stands on a sheaf of arrows.
The edge confirms it. It is reeded on the Liberty type. It carries raised stars on the Indian type: 46 until 1911, 48 afterwards.
Then there is the motto. On the Liberty type, IN GOD WE TRUST arrives in 1866, on a scroll above the eagle: an earlier coin has none. On the Indian type, Saint-Gaudens had left it out; the public complained and Congress restored it in May 1908. Coins of 1907 and part of those of 1908 therefore have no motto.
The $5 (half eagle) and the $20 (double eagle) use the same designs in the same period. Only measurement settles it beyond doubt:
The value is also written on the reverse: “TEN D.” on the Liberty type, “TEN DOLLARS” on the Indian type. Other foreign coins are presented in the foreign coins section.
Fake eagles exist for both types. NGC has described several, including an 1899 Liberty and a 1912 Indian, both struck in gold and at the right weight. Scales alone are therefore not enough. These copies give themselves away through soft or rounded details, small lumps in the fields, spikes on the rim or tool marks where the counterfeiter touched up the dies.
A few simple steps already rule out crude copies:
The guide how to spot a fake coin explains the method step by step.
On the Liberty type, wear first hits the tip of the coronet and the hair above the eye, then the strands above the coronet. On the reverse, look at the wing tips and the eagle's neck: they are the first places to flatten.
On the Indian type, look in the same way at the highest points, such as the feathers of the headdress and the cheek, then at the eagle on the reverse. A ×10 loupe helps a great deal.
Many eagles have been mounted as jewellery or cleaned. A solder mark, a filed edge or an overly even shine can be seen under a loupe. Never rub a coin: the grading scale is explained in grades of preservation.
The $10 eagle was never legal tender in France, yet Le Havre was long the gateway to America. The Compagnie générale transatlantique opened its Le Havre–New York line in 1864 with the Washington and ran it almost without interruption until 1974. In 1913, 150,000 of the port's 741,000 passengers travelled to or from the United States, and American cotton was among its major trades. Today these eagles turn up in estates across Normandy, alongside the 20 francs Napoleon III and the sovereign.
It is the official name of the $10 gold coin in the United States. The $5 is a half eagle and the $20 a double eagle.
Yes. No letter means the coin was struck in Philadelphia. The other mints are marked O, S, CC or D.
On the Liberty type, it dates from before 1866. On the Indian type, it is from 1907, or from 1908 before the motto was restored.
No. Fakes in gold at the right weight are known. You also need to check the design, the edge and whether the date matches the mint mark.
In 1933 the United States ordered gold coins to be handed in, and almost the whole mintage was melted. Only about forty pieces are known.