The eagle is a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

$10

gold coin A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22fineness#Karat, karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia (coin), Britannia, Canad ...

issued by the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bull ...

from

1795 Events January–June * January – Central England records its coldest ever month, in the CET records dating back to 1659. * January 14 – The University of North Carolina opens to students at Chapel Hill, becoming the ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

. The eagle was the largest of the five main decimal base-units of denomination used for circulating coinage in the United States prior to 1933, the year when gold was withdrawn from circulation. These five main base-units of denomination were the

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * Factory * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Paper mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * Sugarcane mill * Textile mill * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic ...

, the cent, the dime, the

dollar Dollar is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...

, and the eagle, where a cent is 10 mills, a dime is 10 cents, a dollar is 10 dimes, and an eagle is 10 dollars. The eagle base-unit of denomination served as the basis of the

quarter eagle The quarter eagle is a gold coin that was issued by the United States with a value of two hundred and fifty cents, or two dollars and fifty cents. It was given its name in the Coinage Act of 1792, as a derivation from the US ten-dollar Eagle (U ...

($2.50), half eagle ($5), eagle ($10), and double eagle ($20) coins. With the exceptions of the gold dollar coin, the gold three-dollar coin, the three-cent nickel, and the five-cent nickel, the unit of denomination of coinage prior to 1933 was conceptually linked to the precious or semi-precious metal that constituted a majority of the

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

used in that coin. In this regard the United States followed long-standing European practice of different base-unit denominations for different precious and semi-precious metals. In the United States, the cent was the base-unit of denomination in copper. The dime and dollar were the base-units of denomination in silver. The ''eagle'' was the base-unit of denomination in gold although, unlike ''cent'', ''dime'' (or ''disme''), and ''dollar'', gold coins never specified their denomination in units of ''eagles''. Thus, a double eagle showed its value as ''twenty dollars'' rather than ''two eagles''. The United States' circulating eagle denomination from the late 18th century through to the first third of the 20th century should not be confused with the American Eagle bullion coins which are manufactured from

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

(since 1986),

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

(since 1997), or

palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

(since 2017).

Years of production, and composition

Gold ''eagles'' were issued for circulation by the United States Mint from 1795–1933, ''half eagles'' from 1795–1929, ''quarter eagles'' from 1796–1929, and ''double eagles'' from 1850–1933, with occasional production gaps for each type. Except for the double eagle, the diameters of all these denominations were decreased over time. The following table presents the diameters of each of the denominations, in millimeters (mm), according to the first year that diameter was used:

22 karat "standard" gold

Originally the purity of all circulating gold coins in the United States was eleven twelfths pure gold (the same 22 karats level as English crown gold) and one twelfth ''alloy''. Under U.S. law ( Coinage Act of 1792), the alloy was composed only of silver and copper, with silver limited to no more than half of the alloy by weight. Thus, U.S. gold coins had 22/24 (22 kt or 91.667%) pure gold, ''at most'' 1/24 (0–4.167%) silver, with the remaining fraction, (4.167–8.333%), copper. Coinage Act of 1792 (Section 12
Coinage Act of April 2, 1792
at USmint.gov The

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

of circulating, standard gold, $10 eagles was set at , half eagles at , quarter eagles at . This resulted in the $10 eagle containing of pure gold.

Gold content lowered to 89.92% (1834)

In 1834, the mint's 15:1 legal valuation of gold to silver (i.e. 15 weight units of silver and 1 weight unit of gold have the same legal monetary value) was changed to 16:1, and the metal weight-content standards for both gold and silver coins were changed, because at the old value ratio and weight content, it was profitable to export and melt U.S gold coins. As a result, the specification for ''standard gold'' was lowered from 22 karat (.9167 fine) to .8992 fine (21.58 kt).

Gold content raised to 90.0% (1837)

With the Coinage Act of 1837, passed on January 18, 1837, a small change in the fineness of the gold (increased to exactly .900 fine) was made, and the alloy (now 10% of the coin's weight) was again legally defined as silver and copper, with silver capped at no more than half. (i.e. 5% of total coin weight) The new standard for the $10 eagle was of .900 fine gold, giving pure gold content of , with other coins proportionately sized. Between 1838 and 1840, the silver content was reduced to zero—the eagle in 1838, half eagle in 1839, and quarter eagle in 1840, — resulting in U.S. gold coins being 90% gold and 10% copper. Using only copper as the alloy in gold coins matched longstanding English practice (see crown gold).Gold coin collector historical composition info
. Accessed July 9, 2009. The new standard would be used for all circulating gold coins until U.S. gold coin circulation was halted in 1933.

Post-1982 eagle modern commemorative coins

As part of its Modern United States commemorative coins program the United States mint has issued several commemorative eagle coins. In 1984, an eagle was issued to commemorate the Summer Olympics, and another eagle was issued in 2003 to commemorate the

Wright brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...

first flight at Kitty Hawk. The pre-1933 .900 fine gold standard was restored; this would also be used in half-eagle gold commemoratives as well. The coins would be identical in fineness and size to their pre-1933 counterparts of the same face value. In 2000 a unique eagle, the Library of Congress bimetallic eagle, was issued commemorating the Library of Congress; it consisted of equal weights of an approximately .9995 fine

core and a .900 fine gold outer ring.

List of designs

* Turban Head 1795–1804 **Turban Head, small eagle 1795–1797 **Turban Head, large eagle 1797–1804 *Liberty Head (Coronet) 1838–1907 **Coronet, without motto 1838–1866 **Coronet, with motto 1866–1907 * Indian Head 1907–1933

References

Bibliography

External links and references

US Gold Eagle by year and type
– histories, photos, and more.
American Eagle production numbers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eagle (United States Coin) 1795 introductions United States gold coins Ten-base-unit coins Goddess of Liberty on coins Eagles on coins