1905 Eagle - 1905 $10 NGC PF62 CAMEO CAC. With between 55 and 60 pieces known in all grades, the Proof 1905 Eeagle is a rare coin. The coin has lovely, softly frosted devices set against dark fields. The Cameo designation indicates that the piece is one of the earlier strikes. The surfaces are original and show a few hairlines, in keeping with the grade. There are no visible contact marks or other distractions. As expected for a proof coin, the strike is full and sharp so all of the details are clear.

In 1804 President Thomas Jefferson stopped the mintage of eagles. Because its melt value exceeded its monetary value, there was excessive melting of theses coins. Over thirty years later, the standard weight and fineness for gold coins was changed. Eagles went from 270 grains to 258 and fineness from 91.67% to 90% gold. In 1838 Mint Director Patterson told Engraver Gobrecht to prepare new dies for the eagle.

Gobrecht, using a head of Venus with a slightly altered hair style that he took from a Benjamin West painting, replaced Robert Scots Turban Head with a completely new design. The coin shows Liberty facing to the left, to the West or perhaps the frontier, wearing a coronet inscribed with the word LIBERTY instead of a cap as on the previous design. Her hair is tied with beads, and two long curls fall down, one on the back of her neck and the other below her ear. The design is similar to his Braided Hair Coronet motif used on Large Cents of 1839 to 1857. For the reverse, Gobrecht used a revised version of John Reichs eagle reverse.

The new reverse shows the corrected heraldry, arrows in the left claw and olive branch in the right. The previous design had them mixed up causing confusing war-like symbolism. Gobrecht also removed the stars and clouds above the eagle and added the denomination TEN D. below. Previous eagles lacked this information because they were thought of as bullion and were valued by their weight and precious metal content as was the case with the European coins that circulated and were accepted in the United States.

In 1826 Gobrecht did his first work for the Mint as an assistant to William Kneass. After Kneass suffered a debilitating 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.

The Type 2 eagle was created when the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added to a banner above the eagle in 1866. The change was made in response to pressure organized by the Reverend M.R. Watkinson. The motto remained until 1907, when President Theodore Roosevelt told Augustus Saint-Gaudens to omit it on the newly designed eagle.

All of Gobrechts proof eagles are rare. Type 1 had a business strike mintage of over five million yet it is estimated that only 400 proofs were struck. Type 2 had an expected much larger mintage of over thirty-seven million; however, only 2,327 proofs were made, with no single year having more than 120 struck. The 1905 proof eagle had a mintage of only 86.

In its population report, NGC shows 1 1905 PFCA62 with 15 better. As of November 2012, CAC has confirmed 1 in PFCA62 with 1 better.