1915-S Eagle Indian - 1915-S $10 Indian PCGS MS64+. This outstanding, key date, near-Gem 1915-S Eagle Indian has brilliant mint luster and a strong strike. The sharpness of the strike of this 1915-S Eagle Indian coin is apparent in the hair details, the vanes of the feathers, and the shoulder of the eagle. This 1915-S Eagle Indian coin is graded MS64+, which indicates that it is a more desirable, high-end piece within the grade range. As expected, the surfaces of this 1915-S Eagle Indian are original and clean for the grade with no notable abrasion marks. The scuff mark on the eagles breast is on the holder not the coin.

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 of this design was criticized by Mint Engraver Charles Barber and other Mint workers.

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 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 corresponding to the number of states in the Union at the time..

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 eagles of this design were struck, as were the ancient coins that Roosevelt admired, in high relief. They also had a knife rim or wire edge. This rim is a narrow piece of coin metal outside the border that is caused by the pressure between the dies and the collar. Its presence is annoying to those in commerce and banking because it often prevents the coins from stacking. Also these rims can cause ejections problems sometimes causing the new coins get stuck in the coining chamber. For these and other reasons, Charles Barber opposed the high relief coins. Despite his objections, a few were issued in 1907. The next year Barber lowered the relief when the motto was added.

There are two main types of Indian Head Eagles. The first is the No Motto or Type 1, which has a few varieties, with and without wire rims (also called rounded rims), periods before and after the motto, and a no periods variety. The second type, the present coin, has the motto IN GOD WE TRUST added to the reverse left field. The coins of this type were minted mid 1908 to the end of the series in 1933. Since the change to add the motto was made in the middle of the year, 1908 had both the No Motto and Motto on Reverse types. Most likely the members of Congress who advocated for the addition of the motto on the coinage were trying to prove that they were not atheists. Obviously they were not particularly concerned about maintaining the separation between church and state.

The 1915-S Eagle Indian is a low mintage date with few survivors that made it from California to the banks in the East from where they could be sent to Europe and escape melting in the 1930s. In its population report, PCGS shows only this coin in MS64+ condition with 7 better. NGC shows 6 better than MS64, and these numbers do not account for crossovers or resubmissions.