1908-S $5 Indian Head Half Eagle PCGS AU55

First year specimen of popular Indian Head $5 gold piece!

This example from the inaugural year of the Indian Head half eagle is both rare and more affordable in its assigned grade of AU55. Its mintage of 82,000 is the third lowest of the entire popular series. Examples from the first year of this series are greatly desired by collectors. The 1908-S is known for strong, brilliant strikes. PCGS has graded 65 as AU55 with 521 finer. Collector’s Universe prices this issue at $3,750.00 in AU55.

Save $1,550 off of the Collector’s Universe price when you buy this coin!

Artist-medalist Bela Lyon Pratt, who crafted this unique and beautiful coin design, in a 1918 painting by Howard E. Smith. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Noted art historian and numismatist Cornelius Vermeule writes, "Bela Lyon Pratt of Boston presented a novel coin.... The innovations [on this coin] was one of technique as much as design. Instead of being modeled in relief within a protecting rim, the Indian, the eagle, and the lettering were sunken in incuse or engraved in the uniformly flat plane of the coin .... the [coin shows] more imagination and daring of design than almost any other issue in American history."