Proof 1910 Quarter Eagle - 1910 $2.50 Indian Head NGC PF66. Brilliant, Roman finish surfaces characterize this Proof 1910 Quarter Eagle Indian Head. It shows no visible hairlines or other distractions that can be seen without the aid of magnification. Of course, the strike is full as expected for a proof coin so that every detail is clearly visible. The Roman Gold finish is a light yellow-gold with more reflective surfaces than are seen on the Matte Proofs of 1908.

Bela Lyon Pratt, a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens 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. As soon as they were issued, objections were made. It was said that the incused features would retain dirt and the coins would be unsanitary. They were also too easily counterfeited and couldnt be stacked, and the design was not natural.

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. 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 depicts a realistic Indian brave facing left wearing an authentic looking headdress. LIBERTY is above and the date below. On the left are six five-pointed stars and on the right are seven. The designers initials are above the second 1 in the date. The reverse shows a large, majestic eagle standing on a bundle of arrows with an olive branch in its talon. The motif, reminiscent of the ancient Egyptians, is in homage to Augustus Saint-Gaudens and taken from his ten dollar coin. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the words separated by dots, is at the top. The denomination written as 2 DOLLARS is below. Both mottos E PLURIBUS UNUM and IN GOD WE TRUST are present with the former on the left and the latter on the right. The most innovative feature of this coin and Pratts half eagle as well, is that it is incuse. The devices are sunk beneath the fields. With this arrangement the high points of the design could not easily be worn away; however, the fields are susceptible to abrasion and wear because they are not protected by rims.

Pratts choice of a realistic Indian motif is a departure from the idealized female Caucasian Indian Head of prior years. Although the identity of the brave and his tribe are unknown, the design is seen as a continuation of a trend started with the portrait of Running Antelope, the Sioux chief on the 1899 five dollar bill.

While Roosevelt did not particularly praise the new design, a noted numismatist from Philadelphia, Samuel H. Chapman objected vociferously in a letter to President Roosevelt reprinted in the February 1909 issue of The Numismatist. Chapmans concerns are excerpted and expressed as follows:

...The head of the Indian is without artistic merit, and portrays an Indian who is emaciated, totally unlike the big, strong Indian chiefs as seen in real life.... and on the reverse is a reproduction of the Saint-Gaudens' eagle, which represents not our national bird but resembles more closely the golden eagle, which is also indigenous to Europe.
The Placing of the design below the surface of the flan, with deeply incised outlines, gives the effect of having been engraved into the metal, and can, therefore, be closely imitated without dies or moulds.
The sunken design, especially the deeply sunken portion of the neck of the Indian, will be a great receptacle for dirt and conveyor of disease, and the coin will be the most unhygienic ever issued
And the new coins, being thinner, as the metal is taken up by the full field, they do not make stacks equal in height to the oldThese coins will be a disgrace to our country.

However, despite these objections, and the indifference of the general public, the coins remained in production until 1929, and proofs were made until 1915. Since few were interested in saving coins of this new Mint series, not many examples survive in higher grades today.

Bela Lyon 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. In 1890, at the suggestion of Saint-Gaudens, he went to study in Paris, where he received many awards for his work. 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.

Although the 1910 Roman Finish proof quarter eagle had a reported mintage of 682, researchers believe that approximately 200 were actually released by the Mint. Only 171 pieces have been certified by both grading services and this number does not account for crossovers and resubmissions. In its population report, NGC shows 29 in PF66 condition with 15 better.