1910 $2.50 Indian (1910 Quarter Eagle) NGC PF66. This superb proof 1910 Quarter Eagle is a visual masterpiece. It has impeccable surfaces and none of the handling marks that often are seen. Of course, the strike is full and sharp on both sides, which enhances the beauty of Pratts incuse design. Mint luster gleams from within the devices. Frankly, its difficult to imagine why this coin didnt grade a point or two higher considering its excellent condition and eye appeal.

The new Indian Head quarter eagle was put into production in 1908. Theodore Roosevelt, who had become president as a result of McKinleys assassination in 1901 and was in his second term of office, believed that it was time to reform all United States coinage, which in his opinion was atrociously hideous. He wanted to put into place his pet crime to improve coinage designs by bypassing the mediocre Mint Engraver, Charles Barber. Earlier Roosevelt prevailed on the world-renown sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to remake the gold eagle and double eagle coins. Now, influenced by Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow, a friend and art connoisseur, Roosevelt agreed to have Bela Lyon Pratt redesign the gold half eagle and quarter eagle. Roosevelt got the idea of making the coins incuse, like certain ancient Egyptian coins. Certainly this new design would make them different from the coinage that come before.

Bela Lyon Pratt designed this coin and the similar half eagle. They were different from what had preceded in that the designs were incused. The background of the prior issues had become the foreground. The design was sunk into the field and shown in relief. The design was not popular with the public. It was an innovation never previously used on circulating United States coinage, and it was criticized by people in banking and numismatics. They felt that the new coins could be easily counterfeited, wouldnt stack easily, and were unsanitary because dirt would remain in the incused features. They also felt that the design was not natural. However, as a whole, the public was indifferent to the new coins, and the Indian Head quarter eagle coins remained in production and in circulation until 1929, when the Great Depression caused economic upheaval.

In 1905 William Bigelow, an art connoisseur and friend of President Theodore Roosevelt, was sent to evaluate a large art collection that was donated to the government. Following this project, Roosevelt sought Bigelows advice on coinage designs. Bigelow commissioned his friend Bela Lyon Pratt to make the new coins. Pratt was an accomplished sculptor and medal maker. He had studied under Saint-Gaudens and was also his assistant. In 1890, at the suggestion of Saint-Gaudens, he went to study in Paris at the Ecole des Beau Arts, where he received many awards for his work. In 1893 he returned to America where he sculpted for the Columbian Exposition. Later he became an instructor at the Boston Museum School.

His works include a medal for Harvard President Eliot, a bicentennial medal for Yale University, a figure for the Sears Monument in Cambridge, and many other sculptures, busts, and medals. At the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915, he had an exhibit of seventeen pieces that won a gold medal.

The quarter eagle design was similar to his half eagle. He chose an authentic looking Indian brave in profile looking left wearing a realistic headdress. Above is the word LIBERTY and below is the date. Six stars are on the left and seven are on the right. The reverse, in homage to Saint-Gaudens, shows the standing eagle facing left. Below it are arrows and an olive branch. 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 2 DOLLARS is below.

The proof 1910 quarter eagle had an original mintage of 682 pieces. The present coin is tied for third best at NGC, which in its population report shows 27 others graded PF66 with 15 better. At PCGS there are only 5 with 1 better. These numbers do not account for crossovers and resubmissions. With such few high grade specimens available the future looks bright for proof gold coins like these.