1894-S Eagle (1894-S $10) NGC MS61 PL. Finest of 2 Prooflike's in this better date. Bright mint luster highlights the devices of this prooflike 1894-S Eagle. The contrast between the devices and the field is moderated on the obverse and stronger on the reverse. Light surface abrasion keeps this coin from a higher mint state grade. The strike is very sharp and strong on both sides. Designed by Christian Gobrecht, the eagle uses the Coronet motif which shows Liberty in profile facing left, her hair tied tightly in beads, except for two curls one down the back of her neck and the other on the side below her ear, with the word LIBERTY inscribed on the coronet. She is surrounded by thirteen stars, and the date is below the truncation. Dentils are around the periphery of both sides. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle facing left holding arrows and olive branch it its talons. The inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA arcs around it, interrupted by the wing tips, and the denomination TEN D. is below. The denomination is separated from the legend with dots.

The 1894-S is a type 2 because the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the banner above the eagle in 1866 at the insistence of the Reverend M.R. Watkinson. He felt that God must be recognized on our nations coins, and Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase ordered that it be added to all coins large enough to accommodate it. In March 1865, a coinage act was passed mandating the motto.

Christian Gobrecht was the third Chief Engraver at Mint in Philadelphia. He was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania in 1785. His father, a German immigrant was a reverend. His mother, Elizabeth Sands was a descendent of the early settlers of Plymouth Colony. In 1818 Gobrecht married Mary Hewes. After an apprenticeship, he became an engraver of clockworks in Baltimore. Later, in Philadelphia, he joined the banknote engraving firm. He invented a machine that enabled one to convert a three-dimensional medal into an illustration. His first work for the United States Mint was in 1826 when he made dies as an assistant to William Kneass. When Kneass was unable to continue working because of a stroke, Gobrecht did all the die and pattern work. He became Chief Engraver in 1840 and served until his death in 1844.

The 1894-S eagle had an original mintage of 25,000. In its population report, NGC has a total of 144 coins in all grades. In prooflike grades there are only two, an AU58 and this one in 61.