Lot 3386
1907 $10 Indian. Wire rim, periods. PCGS graded MS-63 PQ. Only 500 coins minted. Very nice Premium Quality example for the grade. A rare and popular transitional issue, designs are exactly as Saint-Gaudens wanted them, before the Mint made disastrous modifications in the No Motto coinage of 1907; one of a mere 500 pieces made without intentions of circulation, technically making the Wire Edge ten a pattern in the estimation of some scholars (Judd-1774). This issue was the closest the mint came to reproducing the ten-dollar design as conceived by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Theodore Roosevelt. The presently offered coin has subtly variegated blends of gold color and only the smallest ticks, none of them singular or noticeable. The die polishing marks (common to all specimens) are more definite on the reverse fields and overall the coin has a bright choice satiny sheen. Pop 50; 159 finer (PCGS # 8850) .
The profile Saint-Gaudens chose originated in a figure of Nike ('Victory'), part of his General Sherman Monument (1905). At President Theodore Roosevelt's urging, and for no other reason, the artist gave this head a nationalistic character by the addition of a feathered warbonnet, such as neither Liberty nor any Native American woman would ever have worn. And so the new design acquired the misleading name of "Indian head," properly applicable only to Bela Lyon Pratt's 1908-29 half eagles and quarter eagles.
Estimated Value $30,000 - 35,000.
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| Realized $36,800 |
