1932 $10 (1932 Eagle) Indian NGC MS66. This creamy, premium 1932 Eagle is graded MS66 by NGC. The coin, of course, shows no wear and is covered with rich, satiny luster. The strike is full on both sides. On the obverse the hair is fully detailed as are the vanes in the feathers. On the reverse all of the feathers are present.

Saint-Gaudens Indian Head Eagle was minted from 1907 to 1933. In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Smithsonian Institution and saw an exhibit of ancient Greek coins. He admired their high relief and bold designs and prevailed upon his friend Augustus Saint-Gaudens who was in failing health to design new gold coinage for the United States. Saint-Gaudens, who agreed with Roosevelt that the countrys coinage was hideous, redesigned the eagle and double eagle coins. Since Saint-Gaudens died in August, 1907, it is believed that the only new coin he actually saw was the gold eagle. The high relief was criticized by Mint Engraver Charles Barber and other Mint workers who claimed that the coins would not be useful in commerce and banking since they did not stack. The relief was lowered the next year.

The obverse consisted of a close up profile of a head of Liberty facing left. Above her unrealistic war bonnet were thirteen stars in an arc. Below the truncation was the date. The origin of the profile is Saint-Gaudens own statue of Nike which was part of his memorial to General Sherman and can still be seen at the southern entrance to Central Park in New York City. Alice Butler was the model for the sculpture. Originally Saint-Gaudens wanted to place a wreath on Libertys head, but President Roosevelt insisted that it be a feathered war bonnet to give the coin a more nationalistic appeal. (Roosevelt also asked Saint-Gaudens to switch the designs of the eagle and double eagle coins. He felt that the close profile was more suited to an eagle size coin and that the striding figure of Liberty was better on the double eagle.) The reverse of the coin shows a powerful standing eagle that is suggestive of Egyptian art. It shows the eagle standing on a bundle of arrows that resemble fasces. In Roman iconography, fasces symbolized the power to kill or the power of life and death. Held on top of the arrows by the eagles talon is the olive branch, the traditional symbol of peace. Above the eagles head is UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and in the right field is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. The denomination TEN DOLLARS is below. On its edge, the coin has forty-eight raised stars.

Roosevelt, a deeply religious man, felt that it was blasphemous to have Gods name on a coin. Coins were used for gambling, prostitution, hiring assassins, and worse. So he asked Saint-Gaudens to omit the motto In God We Trust. The first issues omitted the motto; however, it was restored in 1908 at the insistence of Congress.

The gold coins of Saint-Gaudens have always been popular with collectors, specialists, and investors. This piece is tied for the second finest at both NGC and PCGS with just 9 better, not accounting for crossovers and resubmissions. As attention to gold intensifies, so will interest increase in choice pieces such as this one.