I am rather new to gold numismatics. I just bought my first 2 ten dollar (raw) Indians. It took a couple of dealers to find any to buy. One dealer told me, ''they don't come in'' . He wasn't sure why. Are they unpopular or on the contrary, are they in such high demand and collected to the point of being hoarded and few want to part with them? Non-scientifically, when I scan the pages of various coin periodicals, I don't see many pictures of them among the copious adverts. What do you think of their desirability within our community?
Like the $20 Saints and $5 & $2 1/2 Indians, they have always been favored for their design over their Liberty Head counterparts within each denomination. Pricing in the marketplace illustrates the willingness of buyers to pay more for the indians than the libertys as well.
Toughcoins got it right. The only thing I can add to that is the $10 Indians are surprisingly common with an estimated supply of 3+million according to Q David Bowers U.S. type coin book.
I own a couple. I would bet that with gold trading as low as it is that folks aren’t willing to part with them and accept a loss on their initial investment.
Why do I see so little of them pictured/advertised in coin periodicals? Is this a good or not so good sign for future values?
First off, keep in mind that compared to the combined total mintage for the St. Gaudens double eagle series, the eagle version's was rather small. Moreover, much of what you'll find floating around the market these days are coins from a small subset of dates (1926, 1932, plus a few of the earlier Philadelphia coins and possibly the 1910-D as well). If you want to find any of the scarcer dates in anything resembling decent grades (1911-D, 1911-S, 1913-S, etc.), good luck! I'm not entirely impartial here, having amassed a nearly complete set of Indians minus the 1920-S, 1930-S, and 1933 for obvious reasons. Still, I think these coins have potential.
There are also quite a few counterfeits that are of correct weight and fineness. The quality is very good, so you need to be careful. I bought a beautiful 1915 that traded hands a few times to dealers until someone sent it in to PCGS. It looked like an AU58, but came back NG. I returned it to the dealer I bought it from, he gave me my money back, then put it right back in his case. What a guy!
I think they are about as beautiful as they come! I was starting to hoard them (I had 4) But ended up trading them off to get other things. I kept the best one for my type set and I'm happy with it. I think they are great coins for investment if you buy them decently (graysheet) Here's my lone example:
Ten dollar Indians are great but it's near impossible to put together a set. I went with the $2.50 and after a few years I have the full set. I'm only missing the variety, the 1911, weak D. I have the strong D.
spirit - prices kind of tell you the answers to your questions. For example, common date gold, with both Saints and Libs, in grades up to and including MS63 typically sells for spot plus about 10%. And that has been true for decades - meaning it doesn't matter how the spot price changes. However, that has never been the case with Indians. So what does that tell you ? I can tell you what it tells me. It tells me it doesn't matter what the reason is. It only matters that it is, the way it is.
They are popular, and demand a higher premium than $10 Liberties. I think all of the Indians have a bit higher premium than the Liberty counterparts, actually.
