1839 Eagle - 1839 $10 Type of 1838, Large Letters, NGC MS63. This rare, Mint State, Type of 1838 Eagle comes with the provenance of the James A. Stack, Sr. Collection. It is the second finest known specimen of this date at NGC. The coin shows a strong strike with full details on the centers of the stars, Libertys hair, the eagles neck, and the area to the lower left of the shield. The dentils are also full and strong on both sides. The coins satiny devices contrast with lustrous fields giving the coin considerable eye appeal. Were it not for some light abrasion marks, the MS63 grade would certainly have been Gem or higher.

The coin was originally known as the Large Letters type. Now it is most often called the Type of 1838 because of the difference in the hair style compared to later 1839 and following coins. The coin is actually an overdate that can be seen at the right edge of the last digit of the date which covers an underlying 8. The Second Head, issued later in 1839, is also called the New Portrait, Small Letters or the Second Head, Small Letters.

Designed by Christian Gobrecht, the coin shows Liberty facing left in profile wearing a LIBERTY inscribed coronet with her hair tied in the back in beads. Two long curls hang down her neck, one in the back and the other on the side. She is surrounded with thirteen six-pointed stars. The date is below the truncation, which shows no drapery. The motif is taken from a Benjamin West painting of Venus. It was also used with modifications for the Large Cents of 1839. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with outstretched wing looking to the left. On its chest is the Union shield. In its talons it holds the olive branch and arrows. The error in the previous issue, Scots eagle held the arrows and the olive branches in the wrong talons, is corrected. Except for the tips of the eagles wings UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds the reverse, separated from the denomination TEN D. by dots. Dentils are near the edge on both sides of the coin, and the edge is reeded.

Generally speaking Coronet eagle Liberty Head, No Motto coins had low mintages. While a few years had large mintages of more than 200,000, most were significantly less. Some dates are difficult to obtain because their mintages were limited or they were not saved. Later years, 1866 and following saw the motto IN GOD WE TRUST added to the reverse on a banner above the eagle. It was added because of pressure brought about by the Reverend Mark Richards Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania.

Christian Gobrecht became the third Chief Engraver at the United States Mint. He was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania in 1785. His father was a German immigrant, and his mother traced her ancestry to the early settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Gobrecht married Mary Hewes in 1818. One of his early positions was as an engraver of clocks in Baltimore. Later he went to Philadelphia where he became a banknote engraver. He invented a machine that allowed one to convert a three-dimensional medal into an illustration. This was an excellent job and Gobrecht was understandably reluctant to work for the Mint for less money than he was making at the engraving firm. In order to persuade him to leave, Mint Director Robert Patterson prevailed upon Chief Engraver William Kneass, who had had a stroke, to take less in salary so more money would be available to hire Gobrecht on a permanent basis. In 1826 Gobrecht did his first work for the Mint as an assistant to Kneass. After Kneass stroke, Gobrecht did all the die and pattern work for the Mint. He became Chief Engraver in 1840 and served until his death in 1844. He was famous for his Liberty Seated motif which was used for all denominations of silver coinage including the half-dime, dime, quarter dollar, half dollar and silver dollar. He also designed the Liberty Head gold eagle, a motif that was also used on the half-cent, the cent, the gold quarter eagle, and the gold half eagle.

Seven 1839 Type of 1838 eagles were found on the shipwreck of the S.S. Republic. The only example of this coin found in the Smithsonian is an MS64. A total of only 16 have been graded in Mint State by NGC. Their population report shows one, the present coin, in MS63 with one better, an MS64.