$10 Liberty Gold Eagle Raw (Random Year)

The Liberty Gold Eagle's production began in 1838 and would not end until 1907, a mammoth 69 years later. To garner an idea of the extent to which the United States changed during that time, it'd be a good idea for us to consider what was happening in the country in each of those years. During 1838, the New Orleans Mint struck coinage for the first time, and Duke University was initially set up as the North Carolina-based Brown School. There was also a demonstration of a Morse code forerunner that used a telegraph and dots and dashes.

Change the time to 1907 and we can see that Theodore Roosevelt was nearing the end of his acclaimed presidency and a foundation stone was set down as part of the Washington National Cathedral's construction. Also, the now legendary Hershey Park was opened in Pennsylvania. Remarkably considering how much time passed, the Liberty Gold Eagle's design actually got only subtle changes. Fundamentally, that design included the head and neck of Liberty and an eagle clasping items symbolic of peace but also preparedness to make war if it is thought required.

So, what minor changes were made? The earliest design, the "Type of 1838," shows Liberty's coronet near the sixth clockwise-ordered star. That changed for coins issued from 1840, on which that headwear's tip points slightly further away from this star. In 1866, a new and even more noticeable change - or, should it be called, addition - was made. This was the inclusion of what looks like a banner emblazoned with "IN GOD WE TRUST." The highly deadly American Civil War had concluded merely a year ahead of this banner being added.

The coin in any of its designs can be a thing of true beauty. However, not all of that beauty is in its outer appearance. You should, for example, take account of the gold content. Though this is 90 percent of the coin and thus, largely responsible for its color, you could still underestimate the metal's value. Here, we refer primarily to monetary value. You could order this disc for a particular price and then find that, many years later, its value has held firm even if economic turmoil has taken effect. Unlike a national currency, gold as metal will have its value measured on the basis of global, not merely national, factors. Therefore, it can particularly effectively protect wealth.

Many of the coins that we offer at the U.S. Gold Bureau have been graded by organizations such as the Numismatic Guaranty Corporation and the PCGS. However, this coin is instead offered raw. What precisely does the term "raw" tend to mean when used to describe a coin? It commonly means that it hasn't been assessed by a leading coin grading service. Therefore, it also hasn't been placed in a holder from one of those services. Typically, a coin, after being graded, will be put inside a plastic holder. However, a coin could be contained in some form of plastic case but still be deemed raw, due to not having been graded and encapsulated by a major grading service.

Features of the Common Date $10 Liberty Gold Eagle Raw
-Gold content touching .900 fineness
-Capable of subtly varying across issue years
-Raw condition