5271

[L#5271] 1797 $10 LG EAGLE NGC AU58

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / US Coins Start Price:6,000.00 USD Estimated At:24,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
[L#5271] 1797 $10 LG EAGLE NGC AU58
When the quarter eagle went into production in 1796, it bore the same obverse as on the eagle and half eagle, but a new reverse was used, generally known as the large or "heraldic" eagle.

This device bears a somewhat more full-bodied eagle than on the small eagle design of 1795-97. The eagle looks to the left on the new design and holds in its beak a ribbon inscribed E PLURIBUS UNUM, a Latin phrase meaning One Among Many. A shield is displayed on the eagle's breast. The eagle grasps several arrows in its right talons (the viewer's left) and an olive branch in its left talons, and it is similar to the eagle on the Great Seal of the United States.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA appears around the design, as on the small eagle of 1797. A semicircle of clouds arcs from wing to wing, with 13 stars between the clouds and the eagle in arrangements that vary slightly from die to die.

Mint engraver Robert Scot's new reverse was introduced on this denomination in mid-1797, so eagles of this year are found with both reverse design types. The estimated mintage of the 1797 capped bust, heraldic eagle $10 is 10,940.