1861 Eagle (1861 $10) NGC AU55 CAC. Ample mint luster, particularly on Liberty’s hair, coronet, and the eagle, remains on this Civil War dated 1861 gold eagle. The scattered abrasions, which are characteristic of the No Motto type, and light wear on the high points keep this coin from an uncirculated grade. The AU55 grade is confirmed by CAC. The strike is bold except for the stars which have lightly impressed centers. Christian Gobrecht designed the eagle using a head of Venus with a slightly altered hair style that he took from a Benjamin West painting. It replaced Robert Scot’s 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 Reich’s 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 1859 Engraver Longacre prepared a new reverse that was used on Philadelphia coins until 1865. On them the eagle’s claws are thinner and shorter. The present coin is an example of a Type 2 or “new” reverse.

CAC shows 2 confirmed with 2 better.