Which 10 is 'higher'?

Zephyros

The 10 of Pentacles is the culmination of the whole deck - all that has gone before. It contains Waite's initials and depicts the "Ancient of Days."

That's fascinating, where are they? I see something that looks like a W on the old man but not the other initials.
 

Teheuti

That's fascinating, where are they? I see something that looks like a W on the old man but not the other initials.
The A & E are superimposed over the center of the W. I know I've seen a drawing of this but can't find it right now. It's certainly arguable whether this is the intended significance of the design.
 

Eremita90

The A & E are superimposed over the center of the W. I know I've seen a drawing of this but can't find it right now. It's certainly arguable whether this is the intended significance of the design.

This is interesting, I've always wandered what that thing was.

At any rate, I agree with Teheuti that it depends on the concept of "higher". If everything has the same grade of necessity, there is little use in talking about higher and lower, unless we are to moralize fire as more "noble", which can be done, but we must be aware of how the word is used. Also, the Ten of Pentacles automatically resolves into the Ace of Wands, so that "higher" and "lower" become completely subjective. However, it cannot be denied that Atziluth is and remains the archetypal world of emanation, the one that expresses the original drive which degrades (from an ontological, not moral perspective) as it climbs down the Tree(s) of Life.
I've always seen the Ten of coins as the complete blooming of reality, so complete that one cannot proceed further. It is the final, thorough unfoldment of the Ace of Wands, so it is, in a way, the Ace of Wands, just seen from another point of view (as they say...), in that the Ace of Wands is complete potentiality, while the Ten of Pentacles is complete actuality and, as it always happens when we deal with two absolute extremes, they end up being the same thing.