1908 Motto

The 1908 With Motto eagle is the first Indian Head ten dollar gold piece struck under the Act of May 18, 1908, the law that compelled the Mint to restore IN GOD WE TRUST to coinage where it had been omitted. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, working with President Theodore Roosevelt, had originally left the inscription off the new eagle as a matter of artistic preference, and the 1907 issues entered circulation without it. Public objection was immediate, Congress acted within months, and after Saint-Gaudens' death in August 1907 the reverse modification fell to Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber. Production at Philadelphia under the new dies began in May 1908, yielded a reported 341,370 pieces, and inaugurated the standard reverse that would carry every subsequent Indian Head eagle through the close of the series in 1933.

Barber placed IN GOD WE TRUST to the left of the eagle, between the wing and the bundle of arrows, working within the existing field rather than redrafting Saint-Gaudens' composition. Strike quality is generally strong, with sharp feather detail on the headdress and well-defined eagle plumage, though bagmarks on the Indian's cheek and jaw are characteristic and hold many otherwise lustrous examples to MS62 and MS63. PCGS and NGC have certified the date in quantity, and population reports thin sharply at MS65 and above, with PCGS recording a small condition-census tier at MS66 and only isolated finer pieces. Authentication should focus on motto spacing, edge-star alignment, and proper weight; the high mintage makes the date a less frequent counterfeit target than scarcer issues in the series.

For collectors building a date set or a four-coin 1908 cluster alongside the No Motto Philadelphia (33,500), No Motto Denver, and With Motto Denver issues, the Philadelphia With Motto serves as the affordable type entry. Lower mint-state grades trade regularly in the four-figure range, and choice MS64 examples appear in most major auction seasons. A PCGS MS66 from the Dr. Steven L. Duckor Collection, offered by Heritage in April 2006, stands among the recorded benchmarks for the date. The matching 1908 matte proof, with only 116 distributed and roughly 70 to 80 survivors, sits in a separate market entirely. For the broader arc of Saint-Gaudens' design through the With Motto standard, see the Indian Head Eagle series history.