American $10 gold coin (eagle)

Coronet or Indian Head: three clues

The portrait. A coronet resting on hair in a bun points to a Coronet; a tall feathered headdress points to an Indian Head. On the reverse, the first eagle grips a branch and arrows, the second stands upright on a bundle of arrows.

The edge. Run a finger along the rim: fine ridges mean a Coronet, raised stars an Indian Head. There are 46 of them until 1911, then 48.

The motto. On the Coronet, IN GOD WE TRUST only appears in 1866, on the scroll above the eagle; any earlier coin lacks it. Saint-Gaudens, for his part, had dropped it from his design. Faced with protests, Congress ordered its return in May 1908, so coins of 1907 and some of 1908 go without it.

$5, $10 or $20? Get out the scales

In the same period, the $5 (half eagle) and the $20 (double eagle) bear designs very close to those of the $10. Scales and a caliper remove any doubt:

• the $5 weighs 8.359 g and measures 21.6 mm;
• the $10 weighs 16.718 g and measures close to 27 mm;
• the $20 weighs close to 33.44 g and measures 34 mm.

The reverse also states the value, abbreviated on the Coronet (“TEN D.”) and spelled out on the Indian Head (“TEN DOLLARS”). The larger sibling of this coin has its own page, the $20 gold coin, and other coins from abroad are gathered under foreign coins.

Copies: what the scales will not tell you

Both types have been imitated. NGC has published analyses of several fakes, among them an 1899 Coronet and a 1912 Indian Head, struck in real gold and at the exact weight. A correct weight therefore proves nothing. These pieces are spotted instead by mushy or blunted details, small growths in the fields, spikes protruding from the rim or tool marks left when the dies were reworked.

Before anything else, a few checks eliminate the crudest imitations:

• Precision scales (0.01 g): expect about 16.7 g, slightly less if the coin has circulated heavily.
• Caliper: you should read something near 27 mm across.
• Magnet: gold does not react; if the coin is drawn to it, it is a copy.
• Sound: balanced on a fingertip and tapped gently, a solid gold coin rings for a long time; a dull note calls for caution but is not enough to decide.
• Anachronisms: a motto on a Coronet before 1866, a CC mark after 1893, a D mark before 1906, a reeded edge on an Indian Head: each of these marks a fake.

The full approach is set out in the guide how to spot a fake coin.

Wear, seen through a magnifier

On a Coronet, the first signs of wear show at the tip of the coronet and on the hair above the eye; the strands above the coronet follow. On the eagle side, the neck and wing tips flatten before the rest.

For an Indian Head, examine the highest relief, the headdress feathers and the cheek, before moving to the eagle on the reverse. A loupe magnifying ten times makes the job much easier.

A good many eagles have been set into jewellery or cleaned. A loupe reveals solder, a filed edge or an overly uniform shine. Never rub the coin, and see the guide grades of preservation for the grading scale.

From Gobrecht to Saint-Gaudens

Created in the early years of the United States Mint, the eagle stopped being struck in 1804. Production resumed in 1838 with Christian Gobrecht's portrait, reworked as early as 1839 and then kept for nearly seventy years.

In 1907 the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens offered a completely different face, Liberty in a feathered headdress. He died in August, before the coin circulated. The missing motto upset part of the public; Congress restored it in 1908 and Charles Barber fitted it into the design.

The series ended with the 1933 crisis: the United States ordered gold coins to be surrendered, and most of the last dates were melted. That is why the 1920 San Francisco coin and the 1933 are so rare today.