1914-D $2.50 Indian Head Quarter Eagle, PCGS MS64+ (CAC)

Jeff Garrett writes, "Like the 1914 Philadelphia issue, the 1914–D was not saved and circulated widely. Low grade examples can be found rather easily, but in Choice and Gem condition, the date is very rare. Most, but not all, examples of the date are found with ill defined details on both the obverse and reverse. A small number were struck with dies that are well prepared and should bring a premium." This example is definitely one of the "small number" minted with "dies that are well prepared"! This is a PQ example of this issue.

Noted numismatic scholar and art critic Cornelius Vermeule writes, "Bela Lyon Pratt of Boston presented a novel coin.... an Indian brave in war bonnet adorns the obverse, and [a] Ptolemaic eagle with wings closed walks along on the reverse...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." This series was struck from 1908 through 1929.