10 Dollars, United States, 1838
date: label: date made
content: 1838
name: label: mint
content: U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
label: designer
content: Gobrecht, Christian
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: One (1) 10 dollar coin
label: Description (Brief)
content: United States, 1838
label: Description (Brief)
content: Obverse Image: Left facing Liberty with hair tied in a bun and wearing a coronet. 13 stars around.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Obverse Text: LIBERTY / 1838
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reverse Image: Eagle with wings outstretched clutching arrows and branch in talons, shield over chest.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TEN D.
label: Description
content: The gold British sovereigns that James Smithson bequeathed to the United States were melted down and re-struck as American coins. Some of the gold went into the reissue of the ten-dollar piece, or eagle. There were other factors at work, of course, including two Acts of Congress that reduced the weight and fineness of all United States gold coins, in an effort to keep them in circulation.
label: Description
content: The resumption of eagle coinage was ordered in July 1838, and between seven and eight thousand of the coins, the first eagles struck since 1804, were minted at the beginning of December. Smithson's legacy played a role: the knowledge that a massive amount of bullion was on its way across the Atlantic fostered the decision to resume the eagle, the largest existing American denomination.
label: Description
content: Christian Gobrecht was responsible for the designs on the resumed eagle coinage. His left-facing Liberty sported a coronet (there is a copper cent, also by Gobrecht, with a nearly identical arrangement), while the rounded tip of the truncation points to the "1" in the date.
label: Description
content: A simple eagle with shield appears on the reverse. The obverse design was modified slightly in 1839, the truncation now being centered above the date. A handful of proofs, specimen coins of record or for VIPs, was also struck. Three have been reliably reported, and a fourth is rumored.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: Coins
label: See more items in
content: Numismatics
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content: Coins, Currency and Medals
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content: Legendary Coins
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Zoomable Image and Details
label: Related Publication
content: Feingold, Ellen R.. Value of Money, The
label: Related Publication
content: Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Mint
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1985.0441.0292
label: catalog number
content: 1985.0441.0292
label: accession number
content: 1985.0441
objectType: label: Object Name
content: coin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall metal)
label: Physical Description
content: 0 (overall die axis)
label: Physical Description
content: 0 (overall die axis measurement)
label: Physical Description
content: struck (overall production method)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 mm x 27 mm; 3/32 in x 1 1/16 in