1908 - 1929 Indian Quarter Eagle $2.50 Set, NGC MS61. The opportunity to obtain a complete, matched set of mint state Indian Head Quarter Eagles does not come often. NGC has certified all fifteen coins in this set. The key coin, 1911-D, comes in a new type holder that enables the viewer to see the edge of the coin. While Indian Head quarter eagles are fairly available to collectors, it is unusual to see a completely matched, mint grade set that includes the key coin. The Indian Head quarter eagle has always been a popular circulating gold coin. It was minted from 1908 to 1915, and then, after a hiatus of nine years, from 1925 to 1929. Many coins of this type were given as Christmas and birthday gifts.

They also saw much circulation and were used extensively for jewelry. One should be aware of traces of solder or evidence of its removal. Imperfect reeding might indicate this problem, and doubtful coins should be authenticated. Authentication is also recommended for the 1911-D because a number of counterfeits have been seen. Sometimes a 1911 Philadelphia minted coin will have a D mintmark added. In uncirculated grades, the 1911-D is ten times more costly than the plain issue. (All USRCI coins are authenticated by one of the major grading services.)

The coin was designed by Bela Lyon Pratt, a student and friend of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. For his reverse, in homage to his mentor, Pratt borrowed the standing eagle from Saint-Gaudens ten dollar gold piece. It shows an eagle standing on a bundle of arrows that look like fasces, the Roman symbol of the power to kill, and the olive branch, symbolizing peace. All four inscriptions are on the reverse without it seeming too crowded. E PLURIBUS UNUM is in the left field and IN GOD WE TRUST is in the right. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, separated by dots, arcs above the eagle, and the denomination written as 2 DOLLARS is below. Because it the highest point on the reverse, the mintmark shows wear before any other part of the coin. The coins obverse has a realistic Native American braves portrait being used as emblematic of Liberty. Unlike previous Indian heads that had Caucasian females wearing fanciful headdresses, the actual subject of Pratts portrait is unknown, but the use of his image can be seen as an extension of a trend that began with the portrait of Running Antelope on the five dollar silver certificate of 1899. From a modern perspective, it is somewhat ironic that a Native American motif was chosen considering the poor treatment they received at the hands of the white man. Above the portrait is the word LIBERTY and below is the date. Six stars are on the left and seven are on the right.

At the suggestion of Saint-Gaudens, Pratt went to study sculpture in Paris at the Ecole des Beau Arts. When he returned to the United States he became an instructor at the Boston Museum School. He became an eminent artist of the times. Many of his works were sculptures, busts, and medals including a medal for the President of Harvard University, a bicentennial medal for Yale University, and a figure for the Sears Monument in Cambridge. He had an exhibit of seventeen pieces that won a gold medal at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in California in 1915.

Pratts other innovation on the Indian Head quarter eagle was its incuse design. What was previously the background now became the foreground. The design was shown in relief and sunken into the field. The new design was not popular with commercial interests and the banking community. People felt that the new coins could be easily counterfeited, wouldnt stack easily, and were unsanitary because dirt would remain in the incused features. However, as a whole, the public was indifferent to the new coins, and they remained in production and circulation until 1929, when the Great Depression caused economic upheaval.

The most affordable and easily obtainable gold series to collect, the Indian Head quarter eagle is made of fifteen date and mintmark combinations. The key to the series is the 1911-D with an original mintage of 55,680. The 1914 coin is a semi-key with a mintage of 240,000. The highest mintage in the series is the 1913 with 722,000.