1933 $10 -- Surfaces Tooled -- PCGS Genuine....

Description

1933 Ten Dollar Indian
The Preeminent Series Rarity

1933 $10 -- Surfaces Tooled -- PCGS Genuine. In the absence of a Details grade from PCGS, we consider this attractive 1933 Indian eagle to have Uncirculated sharpness. The coin last appeared at auction in 2005, when it was raw. In that lot description, the Stack's cataloger noted "a profusion of tiny swirling hairlines" on Liberty's cheek. They are indeed faint, seen only with a loupe and under good lighting, but they are in fact tool marks -- the faint remnant of some individual's attempt to smooth out high-point abrasions on this coin in the distant past. Although unfortunate, this "repair" does not overly affect the eye appeal of the coin. Orange-gold luster glistens on each side, especially in the fields. The strike is sharp and the only mentionable abrasions are a few tiny ticks on the reverse eagle, which serve as pedigree markers.

Most examples of this issue grade MS64 or MS65, although as collectors well know, their rarity is so great that it makes little difference what the official grade is -- just having an opportunity to bid on a 1933 Indian eagle is an event that only occurs every few years ... if that. The issue is rare because of the gold melts of the mid-1930s. On April 5, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order prohibiting the private ownership of gold in most forms:

"All persons are hereby required to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, to a Federal Reserve Bank or a branch or agency thereof or to any member bank of the Federal Reserve System all gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates now owned by them or coming into their ownership on or before April 28, 1933 ..."

The order provided several exemptions, of which the most important to numismatists was a provision that allowed any single individual to retain up to $100 in gold coin and certificates, and also provided for the exemption of gold coins recognized as having "special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins." This provided a couple of avenues by which individuals could legally retain examples of most gold coinage from previous years, what the Mint referred to as "uncurrent gold." However, it did not protect new 1933 coinage that remained in government vaults.

The Mint struck 312,500 ten dollar gold pieces in 1933 before coinage was halted. Small numbers of coins, mostly individual pieces, had by this time been paid out to collectors through the Mint Cashier to fill requests for specimens of the new coinage, but the bulk of the mintage was still stored in Mint vaults. After Roosevelt's executive order, it was illegal to release any more of the 1933 tens and all remaining coins were melted.

In the 1940s, the few 1933 Indian eagles that were paid out by the Mint Cashier prior to the recall order began appearing at auction. Their rarity was immediately recognized, and auction records easily reached $450, rivaling the prices realized by 1930-S tens, which were at the time thought to be rarer than the 1933s. Today, the 1933 eagle is many times rarer than the 1930-S, and it is arguably even rarer than the 1907 Rolled Rim issue, of which just 50 coins were distributed. PCGS estimates a survivorship of 40 to 42 Rolled Rim 1907 coins, compared to 30 to 40 1933 coins. However, the 1933 may be even rarer than that. Heritage has handled a Rolled Rim 1907 ten on more than 150 occasions, but we have only seen a 1933 eagle on 13 different occasions. If 30 or 40 coins truly do survive, they are tightly held by collectors. One of the most recent appearances of a 1933 eagle set a new auction record for the issue, indicating unwavering desire for this issue; the PCGS-graded Gem realized $822,500 in the Central States Signature (Heritage, 4/2015), lot 5419. The coin offered here presents another rare opportunity to acquire the most elusive Indian eagle in the series and one of the greatest 20th century gold rarities ever struck. The opportunity should not be passed by.
Ex: S. Hallock Dupont Collection (Sotheby's 3/1983), lot 222; Morrison Family and Lawrence C. Licht Collections (Stack's, 3/2005), lot 1882, which realized $230,000.
From The Poulos Family Collection.

Note for clients in the European Union: This lot is considered by the European Union to be “investment gold”. We believe that it meets the criteria established in Article 344(1), point (2) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC and thus should be exempt from import VAT regardless of the selling price. Any questions or concerns about VAT should be addressed to your accountant or local tax authority.

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