1933 Indian Head Eagle

Roosevelt's coin

The Indian Head eagle began with Theodore Roosevelt's campaign to make American coins beautiful. He enlisted the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and wrote to him: 'I feel very strongly that on at least one coin we ought to have the Indian feather headdress. It is distinctly American, and very picturesque.' The Liberty head in a feathered war bonnet that resulted had been meant for the cent; it went onto the $10 gold piece instead.

Saint-Gaudens based the head on a model he had sculpted but not used for the figure of Victory on his William Tecumseh Sherman Monument, and a bust of Harriet Eugenia Anderson also inspired him. He died on August 3, 1907, before the coins entered circulation that November.

The first coins drew outrage for leaving off IN GOD WE TRUST; Roosevelt believed putting God's name on money was sacrilegious. Congress required the motto anyway, Roosevelt signed the bill in May 1908, and Chief Engraver Charles Barber modified the design to add it. From 1912 the edge carried 48 stars instead of 46, and the 1933 coins carry both the motto and the 48 stars.

The year the gold stopped

After 1916, eagles were struck only sporadically: 1920-S, 1926, 1930-S, 1932 and 1933. The 312,500 coins dated 1933 were struck in a year when the banking system was collapsing.

Franklin D. Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, declared a nationwide bank holiday the next day, and in March ordered that no more gold coins be released from the Treasury. On April 5, Executive Order 6102 made it unlawful for Americans to hold significant amounts of gold coin, bullion or gold certificates; citizens had to turn them in for paper money at the official price, with an exception for coins with a recognized collector premium.

The 1933 eagles never went out. The whole mintage was melted except for a handful paid out before the order. The coins that survive were almost certainly obtained directly from the Mint before March 1933, which is why every known example is Uncirculated. The eagle series, begun in 1795, ended with them.

How many survive

Counts differ. The numismatist David Akers wrote of 30 to 35 known; a 2015 trade report put the figure at 25 to 30; PCGS and Wikipedia put it at about 40, with PCGS estimating 37 in Mint State and 10 at MS65 or better. Akers called the 1933 the rarest date of the series in total survivors, though third in Mint State behind the 1913-S and 1911-D.

Akers also noted a surprise: most known 1933 eagles are heavily bag-marked, even though they came straight from the Mint and one might expect the careful selection of nice pieces. He knew of no superb MS67 coins. The finest on the PCGS condition census is a single MS66, which sold for $881,250 in June 2016, followed by two MS65+ coins and a group of MS65s.

The 1933 eagle's legal position is clean. Unlike the case of the 1933 double eagle, the legality of owning a 1933 eagle has never been questioned, and collectors can buy one.

The MS65 coins at auction

Most of the finest 1933 eagles grade MS65, and their sales trace the market for the date. One PCGS MS65 from the Kutasi Collection brought $546,250 in January 2007 and, as part of the Madison Collection, $552,000 a year later. A coin from the H. Jeff Browning 'Dallas Bank' Collection sold for $149,500 in October 2001 and $517,500 in February 2009.

A PCGS MS65 sold for $460,000 in July 2009. On April 29, 2015, a PCGS MS65 with a CAC sticker realized $822,500 at a convention auction in Illinois, and another PCGS MS65 brought $587,500 in June 2015. A PCGS MS65 sold for $408,000 in June 2020.

Then the price jumped. At an auction held from April 29 to May 2, 2026, the Kutasi-Madison coin, now in a PCGS MS65 holder with a CAC sticker and offered from The Presidio Collection, set the auction record for the date at $1,586,000.

How to know one

The obverse shows Liberty facing left in a Native American feathered headdress, the design Theodore Roosevelt asked for. The 1933 coins carry the motto IN GOD WE TRUST, added in 1908, and an edge of 48 raised stars instead of a reeded edge.

Akers found the 1933 always well struck, typically light to medium greenish gold with rose, orange or coppery highlights, and often with reddish copper spots. Most are frosty, though a few are satiny. The 1 in the date is almost always weaker than the other numerals, a useful check.

The numbers

Mintage

312,500 (Philadelphia)

Known survivors

About 40 (PCGS; 37 Mint State, 10 at MS65 or better); others estimate 25-35

Weight

16.718 grams

Diameter

26.92 mm

Composition

90% gold, 10% copper

Edge

48 raised stars

Designer

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Finest known

One PCGS MS66 (sold $881,250, June 2016)

Timeline

1. Aug 3, 1907

   Augustus Saint-Gaudens dies before his eagle enters circulation.

2. Nov 1907

   The Indian Head eagle enters circulation, without IN GOD WE TRUST.

3. May 1908

   Roosevelt signs the bill restoring the motto; it appears from 1908.

4. 1912

   The edge changes from 46 to 48 stars.

5. 1933

   The Philadelphia Mint strikes 312,500 eagles.

6. Mar 1933

   Franklin Roosevelt orders that no more gold coins be released from the Treasury.

7. Apr 5, 1933

   Executive Order 6102 requires Americans to surrender most gold coin; the 1933 eagles are melted.

8. Oct 2001

   The Browning 'Dallas Bank' coin sells for $149,500.

9. Jan 2007

   The Kutasi coin, PCGS MS65, sells for $546,250.

10. Apr 29, 2015

    A PCGS MS65 CAC realizes $822,500 at auction in Illinois.

11. Jun 2016

    The finest known, PCGS MS66, sells for $881,250.

12. Jun 2020

    A PCGS MS65 sells for $408,000.

13. May 2, 2026

    The Kutasi-Madison coin sets the date's auction record at $1,586,000.

The world in 1933

• Jan 30, 1933

  Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany.

• Feb 27, 1933

  The Reichstag building in Berlin burns.

• Mar 2, 1933

  King Kong premieres in New York City.

• Mar 4, 1933

  Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd president.

• Mar 5, 1933

  Roosevelt closes every U.S. bank until March 13.

• May 18, 1933

  Roosevelt signs the law creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.

• Jun 5, 1933

  Congress voids creditors' right to demand payment in gold.

• Dec 5, 1933

  The Twenty-first Amendment ends Prohibition.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1933 Indian Head Eagle is number 44 of 100 in the coins entries of the FLOAT 100. 96 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (81 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Saint-Gaudens died in August 1907, three months before his eagle reached circulation.
• Theodore Roosevelt left IN GOD WE TRUST off the coin because he thought putting God's name on money was sacrilegious; Congress overruled him.
• The feathered Liberty head was first meant for the one-cent piece.
• Every known 1933 eagle is Uncirculated, because the survivors came straight from the Mint before the gold order.
• Unlike the 1933 double eagle, a 1933 eagle can be legally bought and sold.
• The 1 in the date is almost always weaker than the other digits.