The $10 eagle coin first entered circulation in 1795. It was the largest denomination ever produced by the US Mint for regular circulation. The original obverse design showed the profile of a Liberty head and the reverse depicted an eagle perched on a palm branch.

In 1797, the reverse design was changed to show the Heraldic Eagle. The style was used until 1804, when fears that the coin was being melted for bullion forced a suspension of its production. Melting gold coins was popular at the time as, more often than not, the coins were more valuable as metal than as specie. This was especially true for the gold eagle, at the time the largest gold coin produced by the Mint. While the price of gold fluctuated, in the early 19th century it was generally in an upward direction. The savviest of coin traders took the eagles abroad and traded them for foreign coins with an equivalent face value but higher gold content.

The Mint resumed production of eagles in 1838 and in that year the Liberty Eagle design was introduced, the same design used on contemporary half and quarter eagles. Liberty eagles were minted for almost 70 years before they were retired in 1907, the year the Indian Head eagle entered circulation. The Indian Head coin was designed by August Saint-Gaudens, one of the most famous sculptors of his day, as part of a commission by President Theodore Roosevelt to redesign American coinage. Saint-Gaudens’ death from cancer in 1907 left Roosevelt’s dream of new coinage befitting a great nation unrealized. In fact, the 1907 Indian Head eagle is one of only two coins that Saint-Gaudens completed. The coin enjoyed a steady mintage until 1916, after which time it was produced sporadically, in the years 1920, 1922, 1930, 1932, and 1933, the last of which marked the denomination’s retirement.