Liberty Head Gold Eagle Values: The 1866-1907 $10 Gold Piece

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The Liberty Head eagle at a glance

The Liberty Head eagle is a ten-dollar United States gold coin. The obverse shows Liberty wearing a coronet and facing left, an image the United States Mint used on the eagle from 1838 through 1907. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast, holding an olive branch and a bundle of arrows.

The series splits into two sub-series. The No Motto eagle ran from 1838 through 1866. The With Motto eagle ran from 1866 through 1907, after the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added on a scroll above the eagle on the reverse. This page covers the longer With Motto run.

Most Liberty Head eagles that turn up in inheritances and safe-deposit boxes are common Philadelphia, San Francisco, or later New Orleans dates in circulated condition. In that condition they trade close to the gold melt floor plus a small numismatic premium. That does not make the pile trivial, and it does not make it a jackpot either.

Real premiums concentrate on a short list of specific dates and on any Carson City strike. The value ceiling in this series sits on the 1875 Philadelphia issue, on top-grade certified examples of any Carson City coin, and on select New Orleans issues such as the 1883-O. Anything above that ceiling requires a certified holder and a recent public auction comparison.

The 1866 to 1907 With Motto series in plain terms

The ten-dollar gold eagle was one of the original coin denominations authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792. The Liberty Head design by Chief Engraver Christian Gobrecht replaced the earlier Turban Head types when eagle production resumed in 1838 after a decades-long pause.

The Coinage Act of January 18, 1837 had already set the modern specification for the coin. The $10 eagle was defined as 258 grains of .900 fine gold, giving a pure gold content of 0.48375 troy ounce per coin. That standard held for the rest of the series through 1907.

In 1864 Congress placed the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on the two-cent piece. The Act of March 3, 1865 authorized the Treasury to add the motto to any United States coin large enough to hold it. The Mint added the motto on a scroll above the eagle on the eagle reverse starting in 1866. The result is the With Motto sub-series that runs from 1866 through 1907.

Four branch mints joined Philadelphia in striking Liberty Head eagles during the With Motto era. San Francisco struck them from 1854 forward. New Orleans struck them across several stretches from 1841 through 1906. Carson City struck them from 1870 through 1884 and again from 1890 through 1893. Denver joined last, striking its first coins on February 1, 1906, and producing Liberty Head eagles only in 1906 and 1907.

Production of the Liberty Head eagle ended in 1907 when the Mint replaced the design with the Indian Head eagle of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In 1933 President Franklin Roosevelt ended circulation of United States gold coins under Executive Order 6102 and ordered the recall of gold from banks and private holders. Many Liberty Head eagles were melted in the years that followed.

Verified physical specifications and gold content

Every Liberty Head With Motto eagle shares the same weight, diameter, alloy, and edge. Any coin sold as a Liberty Head eagle that does not match the table below is a damaged coin, a gold-plated copy, or an outright fake.

The copper alloyed with the gold is a hardener. Pure gold is too soft to hold up in a pocket. The 90 percent gold and 10 percent copper standard applied to United States circulating gold from 1837 through the end of the series in 1933. It is the same alloy used on the Liberty Head half eagle and Liberty Head quarter eagle.

Where the mint mark sits on CC, D, O, and S strikes

The mint mark, when present, sits on the reverse of the coin. It is placed below the eagle, above the denomination TEN D. and centered under the arrowheads and olive-branch stem the eagle holds in its talons. The letter is small and it appears in the open field below the main device.

Four branch mints struck the With Motto Liberty Head eagle. Carson City used CC, Denver used D, New Orleans used O, and San Francisco used S. Philadelphia strikes carry no mint mark at all. A missing mark on any date Philadelphia struck coins is normal and does not lower the value below the ordinary Philadelphia price for that date and grade.

Not every branch struck an eagle in every year. Denver produced Liberty Head eagles only in 1906 and 1907. Carson City struck eagles from 1870 through 1884 and again from 1890 through 1893, with no CC eagles in between. New Orleans and San Francisco each struck eagles in specific stretches of years, with gaps in between.

The mint mark is one of the two features counterfeiters most commonly attack on this series. The other is a heavily worn coin sold as a scarce date or a higher-grade example. A fabricated CC on a base Philadelphia coin is one of the recognized attacks on the Liberty Head eagle, because the CC premium is real and large across the whole run.

The verified premium dates: 1875, 1878-CC, and 1883-O

Three specific dates in the Liberty Head With Motto eagle series carry documented premiums well above common-date levels. Every other date has a range of premiums driven mostly by condition and by whether the coin came from Carson City. The three below are the dates most often referenced in the collector market for this series.

The 1875 Philadelphia eagle is the ceiling of the series in most grades. Its business-strike mintage is one of the lowest of any nineteenth century United States gold coin, and surviving examples are scarce in every grade from Very Good on up. Never treat an alleged 1875 as authentic without a certified holder in hand.

The 1878-CC belongs to the group of low-mintage Carson City eagles struck in the mint's earliest years of production. Beyond 1878-CC, the 1870-CC first-year issue and several other early CC dates also carry strong premiums. The CC premium runs through the whole 1870 to 1884 and 1890 to 1893 CC eagle window.

The 1883-O is one of the scarcer O-mint eagles in the second short stretch of New Orleans eagle production. New Orleans did not strike eagles between 1861 and 1878. Production resumed in 1879 and ran only through 1883 before another gap. That short window is what makes several early 1880s O-mint eagles genuinely scarce.

The Carson City CC premium on this series

Carson City struck With Motto Liberty Head eagles across two windows: from 1870 through 1884 and again from 1890 through 1893. Total CC eagle production in either window was small compared to Philadelphia or San Francisco output in the same years. Every CC date is a low-mintage coin by the standards of the series.

The market pays a real premium on any CC eagle over the equivalent Philadelphia strike in the same grade. That premium is driven by low original mintages, by heavy attrition from circulation and later melting, and by the specific collector demand for Carson City coinage. Any CC eagle in a certified holder trades well above the plain gold melt floor.

The strongest CC premiums cluster on the earliest years of the branch. Dates in the 1870s and early 1880s are consistently harder to locate than the 1890s CC eagles. A certified CC eagle in Extremely Fine or better should not change hands without a recent public auction comparison in the exact grade.

Because the CC premium is real, the CC mint mark is a natural target for counterfeiters. Detection notes on fabricated CC marks and altered Philadelphia coins are covered in the counterfeit section further down this page.

The gold melt floor at an illustrative spot price

Every Liberty Head eagle has a hard bottom set by its pure gold content. Below that bottom, a raw coin can always be sold as scrap gold. Above that bottom, the numismatic premium sits on top.

The calculator below lets you plug in a current spot gold price and see the melt floor on any Liberty Head eagle, or on a small pile of them.

How grade drives price above the melt floor

Grade is the second-largest lever on any Liberty Head eagle price, after date and mint. The market ranks the coin against the Sheldon numeric scale, from Good through Extremely Fine in circulated grades, and from About Uncirculated through Mint State in uncirculated grades.

Common circulated Philadelphia and San Francisco dates from the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century sit at the melt floor plus a small numismatic premium in Good through Fine grades. That premium is typically in the ten to twenty percent range at a normal spot gold price. It reflects steady collector demand for a full-size antique gold coin with a well-known design.

Very Fine and Extremely Fine common dates step up modestly. The market pays for clean fields, uninterrupted rims, and unbroken hair detail on the Liberty portrait. About Uncirculated common dates step up again, because that is the transitional grade where original luster begins to return.

Mint state examples are priced by both numeric grade and eye appeal. A certified MS-62 common Philadelphia date sits at one level. An MS-63 of the same date sits higher. An MS-64 of the same date sits materially higher. Above MS-64, price rises sharply because certified populations at the top of the scale are small on almost every date.

On any Carson City coin and on the 1875, the grade curve is steeper. A single grade point on a certified 1875 or a top-CC date can swing the price by many thousands of US dollars. Any serious sale of a top-grade key should be indexed against a recent public auction of a coin in the same certified grade before either party commits.

Counterfeit warnings and the fake CC mint mark

The Liberty Head eagle is a known target for counterfeiters. Two factors combine to make it attractive. First, the coin holds nearly half an ounce of pure gold. Second, the Carson City CC premium is real enough that a fabricated CC mark can turn a common Philadelphia coin into what looks like a scarce coin.

Most fakes fall into a handful of patterns. A careful screening on each candidate catches the majority of them.

The first pattern is the outright cast or die-struck full replica in a low-karat gold alloy or a gold-plated base metal. Weight is the first tell. A genuine Liberty Head eagle weighs about 16.7 grams. A jewelry scale reading to two decimal places is enough to catch a cast piece that has shed a small fraction of a gram, or a base-metal core in a plating that is too heavy or too light.

The second pattern, well documented on this series, is the fabricated CC mint mark added to a base Philadelphia coin. The base is a genuine gold coin of the correct weight and year, but the CC letters below the eagle are not original. Under 10x magnification the tool marks, halo, wrong letter shape, wrong spacing, or wrong depth typically give it away.

The third pattern is the altered date on a suspected 1875, an early CC date, or an 1883-O. A more common date is tooled to read the key year. Under magnification the modified digit shows disturbed metal, a wrong internal shape, or a slight halo around where fresh metal has been moved.

Detection tips a careful collector uses on any Liberty Head eagle:

• Weigh the coin on a jewelry scale that reads to two decimal places. A genuine piece weighs in a narrow band around 16.7 grams. Anything outside 16.5 to 16.9 grams is a red flag.
• Measure the diameter. A genuine Liberty Head eagle measures 27.0 mm across. Cast copies frequently shrink by a fraction of a millimeter as the metal cools.
• Examine the mint mark under 10x magnification. On any CC coin, compare the CC letters against a certified reference photograph for shape, spacing, and depth in the field.
• Look for tool marks, wrong shape, wrong depth, or a slight halo of disturbed metal around the CC, D, O, or S letter. Any of these flags an added mark on a genuine Philadelphia coin.
• Examine the last digit of the date on any suspected 1875 or 1883-O for tool marks, disturbed metal, or a wrong internal shape. This flags an altered date on a base coin from a different year.
• Check the specific gravity with a jeweler's scale that supports water displacement. A 90 percent gold and 10 percent copper alloy sits in a narrow density band. A gold-plated base-metal core reads outside that band.
• Compare the coin against a certified reference photograph of a known-genuine example of the exact date and mint before treating it as authentic.

These checks screen out most casual fakes. They are not sufficient at the price levels a genuine Carson City coin or a mint-state Philadelphia date commands. Any raw purchase in the four-figure or five-figure range on this series should be certified by an independent grading service before funds move.

The cleaned or polished trap on a gold coin

Cleaning is the fastest way to destroy value on any Liberty Head eagle, common or scarce. Gold is softer than many owners assume. A well-meaning owner rubs, brushes, or dips the coin to bring back the bright look, and the result is a permanently downgraded piece.

A rub with a polishing cloth leaves fine parallel scratches under magnification. A dip in an acid brightener strips microscopic surface layers and leaves the coin an unnatural bright yellow color that graders recognize on sight. A stiff brush pulls dirt across the surface and adds hairline scratches into the fields.

A cleaned or polished Liberty Head eagle receives a details grade rather than a numeric grade from the independent grading services. On common dates the discount from a cleaned coin to a comparable original coin is typically in the twenty to fifty percent range. On the Carson City coins and the 1875 the discount is larger, and the absolute dollar loss on a four-figure or five-figure coin is severe.

The rule is simple. Do not clean the coin. Not with polish, not with a jewelry cloth, not with baking soda, not with an ultrasonic bath, not with a rinse under warm water. If a suspected 1875, CC, or 1883-O looks dirty, leave it dirty and let a professional look at it exactly as found.

How to work through a candidate coin

The steps below are the sequence a careful hobbyist runs on any Liberty Head eagle pulled from a family safe, an inheritance, or a jewelry drawer. Follow them in order before treating any specific coin as a scarce date or a raw purchase candidate.

1. Confirm the coin is a Liberty Head eagle. The obverse shows Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY and facing left, surrounded by thirteen stars, with the date below. The reverse shows a heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast, holding an olive branch and arrows. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears on a scroll above the eagle beginning in 1866.
2. Read the date at the bottom of the obverse. The date must read clearly from 1866 through 1907 for a With Motto strike. If the last digit shows tool marks, disturbed metal, or a wrong internal shape, treat the coin as a suspected altered date.
3. Weigh the coin on a jewelry scale reading to two decimal places. A genuine Liberty Head eagle weighs about 16.7 grams. Anything outside 16.5 to 16.9 grams points to a plated core, a low-karat copy, or a heavily damaged piece.
4. Measure the diameter across the reeded edge. A genuine piece measures 27.0 mm. A shortfall of even a few tenths of a millimeter is a red flag for a cast copy.
5. Look on the reverse for a mint mark below the eagle and above TEN D. Only CC, D, O, and S are correct. The D mark appears only on 1906 and 1907. The CC mark appears only on the 1870 to 1884 and 1890 to 1893 windows.
6. Screen the mint mark under 10x magnification. On any suspected CC coin, look for tool marks, halos, wrong shape, wrong spacing, or wrong depth around the CC letters. On any suspected D, O, or S, look for the same signs of an added mark on a base Philadelphia coin.
7. Do not clean the coin. Any polishing, dipping, rubbing, or rinsing lowers the grade a professional will assign. Cleaning can cut value by half or more on a Carson City coin or the 1875. Preserve the coin exactly as found.
8. Submit any suspected key or scarce date to an independent grading service before selling. Certified grading pairs the coin with a printed grade, a printed authentication, and a tamper-evident holder. It is the only price signal the market takes seriously on the 1875, any CC coin, the 1883-O, or any Liberty Head eagle sold as high mint state.

When third-party grading pays for itself

Third-party grading is the mechanism that turns a suspected Carson City or 1875 Liberty Head eagle into a coin the market will pay a numismatic price for. Certified grading also protects the buyer of any date from paying a mint-state premium for a cleaned or altered piece. On a series with a real CC premium, that protection is not optional at the higher price points.

On the 1875, on any Carson City coin, and on the recognized O-mint premium dates the economics are decisive. Grading fees at a major independent service run in the low tens of dollars for standard tiers, and in the low hundreds for higher-value express tiers.

A certified example in any grade sells at a strong premium over a raw coin of the same apparent condition. The raw coin carries authentication risk the buyer must discount for.

On a common circulated Philadelphia or San Francisco date the economics are different. The whole coin may trade at a small premium over the gold melt floor. The grading fee is the same as it would be on a key. In that case a raw sale to a reputable local coin buyer or through a plain online listing is often the honest option.

The rule of thumb we apply on this series: if the raw coin has any chance of grading MS-63 or higher on any date, certify it. If the raw coin is a suspected 1875, any CC date, or an 1883-O in any grade, certify it. If the raw coin is a common Philadelphia or San Francisco date in circulated grade, price it at melt plus a normal premium and move on.

What your coin is probably not

Liberty Head gold eagle FAQ

By the Harry’s Coins Editorial team. Last reviewed August 2026.