Coronet Head $10 Eagle

Series in circulation for 70 years Mint Engraver Christian Gobrecht probably never dreamed his Liberty Head or Coronet design adapted for the $10 eagle beginning in 1838 would be used on that denomination until as late as 1907. Gold eagle coinage ended in 1804 and did not resume again until 1838, following the Act of June 28, 1834, which reduced the weight of gold coins. That law corrected a blunder by Congress involving the earlier eagles, which were more valuable when melted for their gold content than their face value. Because of the change in weight, the eagles issued beginning in 1838 were less likely to be melted for their precious metal content. The Coronet eagle series enjoyed a 70-year run and is not just a series to be collected by date. Various obverse and reverse "subtypes" or "types" exist: the "Type of 1838," with Liberty's portrait bearing a well-curved truncation, and larger letters on the reverse; the "Type of 1839," with the portrait truncation less curved, and smaller reverse lettering; the obverse "Type of 1848," with minor changes made to Liberty's hair bun and truncation; the reverse "Type of 1859," with thinner claws on the eagle, used on Philadelphia Mint coins from 1859 to 1865; and the With Motto reverse, introduced in 1866 with a ribbon bearing IN GOD WE TRUST added above the eagle. Mint marks must be considered when developing a type set of the Coronet eagle coins. There is no Mint mark for coins struck at the Philadelphia Mint. Coins with an "O" Mint mark for the New Orleans Mint first appeared in 1841, with an "S" for San Francisco in 1854, a "CC" for Carson City in 1870 and a "D" for Denver in 1906. The 1841-O Coronet eagle is the first Branch Mint coin of this denomination. Operations at the New Orleans Mint were suspended due to the Civil War. There are several date varieties among the early Coronet eagle series: the Small and Large Date varieties of 1842 and 1854-O, as well as the 1846/5-O and 1853/2 overdates. A key date in this type is the 1858 issue, with a mintage of 2,521 coins. According to David W. Akers in his book United States Gold Coins, An Analysis of Auction Records, Volume V, Eagles 1795-1933, "Because of the hype and hoopla given to this date when it was catalogued by B. Max Mehl as well as others many years ago, the 1858 is one of the few Liberty Head eagles that has attained a level of fame commensurate with its rarity. "In fact, its reputation actually exceeds its true rarity which has often been greatly exaggerated with erroneous statements claiming that only four, six or eight are known." Akers aserts that there may be between 25 and 30 circulation-strike examples known. He says of another rarity, "The 1858-S is a very rare and underrated coin in any grade, as rare in fact as the highly publicized 1858." In his book United States Gold Coins, An Illustrated History, Q. David Bowers suggests the reason so many early-date eagles are rare in high grade may be because the denomination became a workhorse of the economy. Bowers says, "Few if any were saved by collectors at the time, with the result that Uncirculated specimens of the early years are few and far between. ... Uncirculated pieces are either extremely rare or, in some cases, unknown." During the period of 1839 to 1866, the highest mintage is 862,258 for the 1847 eagle. There are only 14 dates for which more than 100,000 pieces were struck during this time. Production figures decline sharply for post-Civil War issues due to a lack of gold coins being used in circulation. Specie payment was resumed in the 1870s, encouraging more gold to be shipped to the Mint. Mintage figures for circulation strikes of the Coronet, With Motto eagles of 1866 to 1907 range from a high of 3,877,260 coins in 1881 to 120 pieces struck in 1875. There are 11 dates for which more than 1 million coins were struck. At the same time there are four dates for which less than 1,000 circulation strikes were produced. These key dates are 1873 (825 mintage, about 12 to 15 known), 1875 (120 mintage, five to six known), 1877 (817 mintage, an undetermined number known) and 1883-O (800 mintage, undetermined number known). The 1883-O Coronet eagle is the lowest mintage coin of this denomination for any Branch Mint. Although other dates may have higher mintages, some are just as rare today as the key-date coins cited earlier. There are Proof coins of many dates in the Coronet eagle series, all of which have small mintages and even smaller survival rates. The highest mintage figure is 120 Proofs for 1900. It is believed about 35 to 40 Proofs of this date survive. Contemporary collecting habits affected the survival rate of many Coronet eagle coins. According to Bowers: "Virtually no attention was paid to Mint mark varieties, and it is doubtful if even a single numismatist in 1880 desired to own each of the Philadelphia, Carson City and San Francisco eagles of the year. Interest in Mint mark issues did not become widespread until the 1890s, when Augustus Heaton widely promoted them."