1938

1907 $10 Indian. No periods NGC MS66

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:4,500.00 USD Estimated At:9,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
1907 $10 Indian. No periods NGC MS66
Augustus Saint-Gaudens' so-called "Indian" Head Eagles are more properly a concoction of his creative genius having to mold itself to the political realities of coin design. Hear some of Walter Breen's lively commentary on how this special coin came about: "For the new eagle design, Augustus St. Gaudens [sic] (in consultation with Pres. Theodore Roosevelt) decided to use not a standing figure but a head, feeling that the heroic effect of any standing figure, as chosen for the double eagle, would be lost in smaller diameter. The President, disgusted beyond measure at what he called our 'atrociously hideous' coinage, had asked St. Gaudens to design replacements.

The profile St. Gaudens chose originated in a figure of Nike ('Victory'), part of his Gen. Sherman Monument (1905), ultimately inspired by a Hellenistic Wingless Victory on the temple of Zeus Soter . . . at Pergamon. . . . At Pres. Roosevelt's insistence, and for no other reason, St. Gaudens gave this head a nationalistic character by the absurd addition of a feathered war bonnet, such as neither Ms. Liberty nor any Native American woman would have ever worn."

A sleek and popular high grade example of the 1907 No Motto issue, one of a few top-quality Gems remaining. The centers are bright yellow-gold oscillating with deeper pale reddish-gold areas. (#8852)