Lot 3988
1930-S $10 Indian. PCGS graded MS-64. Popular key date. Lovely rich golden toning. 96,000 minted. Most melted. Pop 42; 22 finer. A crisply struck Eagle glowing with ember orange glow from the fields, the devices toned a slightly darker hue in places on the obverse. This lustrous MS64 is certainly among the highlights in the $10 Indian session. Most survivors display frosty mint bloom like this, bloom that swirls around both sides as it catches your eye. However, rich, deeply set gold color is another thing since a percentage of the issue was dipped by collectors when "dipping" and "brilliance" was king (1960s to early 1980s). There are a few of the usual trivial marks but no haziness or discoloration is evident as the surfaces rotate away from a light. We wholeheartedly recommend this scarce 1930-S gold Eagle to bidders!
Few collectors realize it but after the stock market crash and ensuing worldwide banking panic of 1929-35, the price of gold (in terms of paper money) began to rise as frightened depositors here and abroad withdrew their deposits from the banks in the form of gold coin or gold bars. Although America's gold "standard" held for a time at approximately $20.67 per ounce for the noble metal, once the banking panic made it across the Atlantic in 1933, the paper dollar began to sink in value along with the rest against gold. First to the high twenties, then to the low thirties before President Roosevelt, ever the meddler in things economic, began "pegging" the gold price at his weekly meetings with his economic adviser: $31, $32, $33. It all ended in January 1934, when he "set" the government buy price at $35 an ounce, a 59% devaluation of the paper dollar against gold (the limit set by a Congressional authorization passed at the time FDR took office). By then, however, these 1930-S and earlier gold coins were no longer circulated. They were now in the government's hands (PCGS # 8883) .
Estimated Value $37,000 - 40,000.
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| Realized $46,000 |
