Featured Coin: 1911-D Indian Head Eagle, PCGS MS66

The name Augustus Saint-Gaudens is enshrined in the numismatic canon. The Beaux Arts sculptor is perhaps most widely known for his timeless contribution to the eponymous double eagle bearing his famous visage of Miss Liberty striding afore the dawning of a new day. Saint-Gaudens also designed one other officially struck United States coin before he passed away from cancer at the age of 59 in 1907: the Indian Head Eagle.

The coin was one of many commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt, who wanted Saint-Gaudens to redesign all of the nation’s circulating coins. Sadly, Saint-Gaudens’ life was cut short before he reached the entirety of that grand numismatic assignment. The Indian Head Eagle was first released in 1907 and remained in production until 1933. It has since proven not only an artistic endeavor deserving of the highest merit, but it has also challenged numismatists with a suite of rarities, the 1911-D chief among them.

The mintage of the 1911-D $10 was merely 30,100, which was the lowest for the entire business-strike arm of the series. Yet, mintages don’t tell the complete story of a coin’s true rarity, which in the case of this piece owes to just how few examples were saved by collectors. The coin’s origins as a branch-mint issue did not inspire many numismatists of its time to collect the 1911-D Eagle. This was back when emissions from the Philadelphia Mint were by far the most sought-after releases of the day. The issuance of Executive Order 6102 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the depths of the Great Depression in 1933 effectively stopped the minting of U.S. gold coins and private ownership of gold in bulk quantities; it also sent untold numbers of vintage gold coins to the melting pot. Many 1911-D Indian Head Eagles and other pre-1933 United States gold coins met their fates this way.

By every measure, the 1911-D Indian Head Eagle is among the rarest of all issues across the entire United States $10 gold denomination. It is a top rarity in the context of 20th-century U.S. gold coins. The cumulative population of 1911-D Eagles in Mint State grades could be tallied on a grade-school abacus, with just five examples grading MS65 or higher. This resplendent MS66 specimen, hailing from the storied James A. Stack, Sr. Collection, boasts a sharp strike and lustrous golden surfaces. Off the market for at least 75 years, it is the sole survivor in MS66. No other specimen grades higher.

“In a collection and auction rife with major gold rarities and flanked by mega rarities like 1907 Rounded Rim and 1933 Indian Head Eagles, the James A. Stack, Sr. 1911-D Eagle is a standout for its sheer rarity and quality, sitting alone at the top of the Population Report,” remarks Vicken Yegparian, executive vice president of numismatics at Stack’s Bowers Galleries. “Unlike the 1907 Rounded Rim and the 1933, which are always found in Mint State quality, the 1911-D is usually circulated or in lower Mint State grades.” He continues, “Stack had begun collecting by the late 1930s and passed away in 1951, meaning that this coin was no more than three to four decades old when it entered the James A. Stack, Sr. Collection. It has haunted me since I first laid eyes on it, laying unassumingly among other Indian $10s in a Wayte Raymond board. Its luster is otherworldly, and a sheer absence of surface marks indicates to me that someone saved this purposefully and with great care back in 1911, in an era when mintmark collecting was not nearly as popular as it is today. This coin will be the keystone to a top PCGS Registry Set of Indian Head Eagles.”

This outstanding 1911-D Indian Head Eagle will cross the auction block at Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ Griffin Studios in February 2026. Its appearance is expected to draw many paddles into the air for what may be the last opportunity in decades to acquire this unique gem.