1911-D Quarter Eagle - 1911-D $2.50 Indian NGC MS63. The 1911-D Quarter Eagle Indian is the key to the series. Here is a Mint State, lustrous example. The coin has an above average strike with full details on most of the flowers of the garland, the feathers in the headdress, and most of the feathers in the wing. The surfaces are completely original and extremely clean with few abrasion marks and none that requires individual description. The CAC sticker tells us that this is a premium quality piece that fully deserves the assigned grade. 

The 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 preceded.

The incuse design was an innovation never previously used on circulating United States coinage. 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. However, as a whole, the public was indifferent to the new coins, and the coins remained in production and circulation until 1929, when the Great Depression caused economic upheaval.

Pratt, born in 1867 in Norwich Connecticut, was an art educator, sculptor, and medalist. After graduating from the Yale School of Fine Arts at the age of sixteen, he joined the Art Students League of New York where he took classes with, among others, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who became his mentor. Pratt then traveled to Europe where he studied sculpture. He finished first in his class at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1892.

When he returned to the United States he worked with August Saint-Gaudens and created two large sculpture groups for the Columbian Exposition in 1893. From then until his death in 1917 he was a Professor of Sculpture at the Boston Museum School of Fine Art. In addition to the coinage designs of 1908, Pratt had many commissions for medallions and medals. In 1909 Pratt did his most medal work; however, most of his 180 works were portrait reliefs and busts. He also did decorative architectural sculpture for buildings such as the Liberal Arts Building, the Buffalo Exposition, and the Library of Congress. He was a member of the National Sculpture Society, the National Academy of Design, the Architectural League, and he was founder of the Guild of Boston Artists.

The quarter eagle Indian Head series was minted from 1908 to 1915 and then from 1925 to 1929. During these years and until the Great Recall of 1933, the coins circulated in commerce. They were often used as birthday and Christmas gifts. Circulated coins are often seen with rubbed spots on the high points. Since they were also 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 key coin, 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 guaranteed genuine and authenticated by one of the major grading services.)

Another innovation is Pratts use of realism in the obverse design. In 1899 a portrait of Running Antelope was used on the five dollar silver certificate. Pratt continued this trend by using a realistic portrait of an Indian brave for his emblem of liberty, as required by law. Although his name and tribe are unknown, the motif is a striking departure from the Indian head designs of the past that used stylized busts with fanciful headdresses to be emblematic of liberty. Above the portrait on the obverse is the word LIBERTY and below is the date. Six stars are on the left and seven are on the right. For the reverse, Pratt borrowed from his mentors eagle coin and chose the standing eagle motif.

The magnificent eagle stands on a bundle of arrows that look like fasces, the Roman symbol of the power to kill, and the olive branch, symbolizing peace. Pratt placed 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.

In its population report, as of July 2013, CAC shows that they have confirmed 43 1911-D Quarter Eagles at the MS63 grade level.