Theodore Roosevelt is a well known U.S. president, who changed the face of U.S. coins, and numismatics forever. He left a lasting mark on U.S. coinage by the first ever incused designed, indian head quarter and half eagle circulating gold coins.
The idea of this new, incused design, gold coin, was suggested to President Roosevelt by one of his close friends, William Sturgis Bigelow, and the president approved of this design, and made Bigelow responsible for making a model of the new $2.5 and $5 gold pieces. William Bigelow got the help of a talented Boston Sculptor, Bela Lyon Pratt, to make these models. Pratt sent in his finished models to the United States Mint on June 29, 1908.
Bella Lyon Pratt’s designs were as follows:
Obverse shows an Indian wearing a war bonnet.
Reverse shows an eagle perched upon a fasces bundle wrapped in an olive branch, symbolizing military readiness and peace
When design work had begun on the Indian Head Quarter Eagle, the motto used on today's coins, “IN GOD WE TRUST” had been removed from U.S. coinage. President Roosevelt considered it a violation of the Bible, and a sin, to use God’s name on coins, and thus he suspended its use on any coin.
Before President Roosevelt could act, United States Congress put an end to all motto controversy by passing a bill on May 18, 1908, making it law, that the motto be present on all gold and silver coinage. A later law, made in 1955 made the motto of "IN GOD WE TRUST" mandatory of all U.S. coinage, which is a law, still in effect today.
The Indian Head Quarter Eagle had already begun appearing in circulation use in, November 1908. The design started tons of negative opinions, and controversy. In a letter to President Roosevelt, in the the February 1909 edition of The Numismatist, Samuel H. Chapman gave his honest opinion against the new coin:
"It was the hope of every one that when our new coinage appeared we would have one of great beauty and artistic merit. But the new $5 and $2.50 gold pieces just issued totally lack these qualities, and not only those of beauty, but actually miss the practicability to which every effect of beauty in relief has been sacrificed…. 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….. The sunken design, especially the 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 issue…. These coins will be a disgrace to our country as a monument of our present ideas of art as applied to coinage."
On top of the complaint written by Mr. Chapman, another complaint was that the Indian Head Quarter Eagle and Indian Half Eagle did not stack well with others, and it did not stack to the equal stack height of the same number of the coin to that of the preceding coins, the Coronet Quarter Eagle. This caused trouble for many bank tellers trying to do quick counts, of the gold coinage. Samuel Chapman did not give up easily, and wanted to be heard. He took this, directly to the president, himself. President Roosevelt's support of the new gold coinage did not change, and even if Roosevelt's mind did change on this coinage, Pratt's design was protected by United States law, which required coin types to be minted for a minimum of 25 years before being replaced by a new design. Another complaint with these coins, was that germs and toxins could get stuck, in the crevices, and sunken in areas of the coins, which could spread germs, and could cause widespread sickness, throughout America.
Indian Head Quarter Eagles were struck every year from 1908 through 1915, after 1915, production was halted. 10 years later, in 1925, the minting of the quarter eagle resumed, but ended in 1929, following the crash of the stock market, and the beginning of the great depression. There may have been rumors, and plans to maybe someday mint quarter eagles once again, but as the Great Depression continued, and showed no signs of letting up, the Untied States government, in 1933, discontinued the minting of all gold coinage. 1933 was the last year of any CIRCULATING gold coin, minted by the United States Mint.
The Indian Head Quarter, and Half Eagle are two of the most collected gold coins, collected by numismatists today, coin collecting, they are a beautiful design, and in my opinion are probably one of the best coins, ever minted, by the United States. These are the coins I enjoy collecting the most, they are not only history, but portray so much beauty of a Native American, and an Eagle.
The Indian Head Quarter Eagle, My Favorite Coin
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