1913 $2.50 Indian Head Quarter Eagle NGC MS64

Gold specialist David Akers writes, "This is [an] unappreciated issue.... The 1913 is generally well struck with decidedly above average lustre for the series.... As with almost all the Indian Head $2.50 and $5 issues, the surfaces are somewhat granular as a rule. Color is usually a light to medium yellow gold..."

Jeff Garrett writes, “The production of the Quarter Eagle continued in 1913 at a rather healthy pace [722,000] and finding an example of the issue is a simple matter in most grades …. Most [of this issue] are seen well struck. The date becomes rare at the Gem level…”

NGC has graded 1,073 as MS64 with 186 finer. Collector’s Universe prices this issue at $2,750.00 in MS64.

Frank A. Leach, the Mint Director from 1906 to 1909. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The mint director at the time of the concept and creation of this beautiful coin was Frank A. Leach, who wrote in his memoir of his meeting with President Theodore Roosevelt and Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow, who had the

idea that the commercial needs of the country required coins that would "stack" evenly, and that the preservation of as much as possible of the flat plane of the piece was desirable. A coin, therefore, with the lines of the design, figures, and letters depressed or incused, instead of being raised or in relief, would meet the wishes of the bankers and business men, and at the same time introduce a novelty in coinage that was artistic as well as adaptable to the needs of business.