The Indian Head, $2.5 and $5 Gold Pieces

Grading the quarter eagle

1)Luster – determining luster is very important in grading a quarter eagle, the more the luster, and less wear, the higher the grade
2)Bag marks – These coin usually have many minor marks, and nicks, that lower the grade. A mint state quarter eagle, has bag marks on it, but most are not that easily seen. The determining factor between an AU and BU sometimes, is not how many marks, but the position of the marks, on the coin itself.
3)Rub – this is the most difficult to see on these coins. Look at the Cheek and the Eagles Left wing(right side of coin facing you) near the eagles head. The reverse of this coin is usually struck well, the observe can show some weak areas. In order to see rub on the cheek make sure you tilt the coin and look at it from different angles under magnification, under good lighting.

Grading these coins is always tough, because a lot of the nicks and dings, are barely visible, and you need proper lighting and good magnification, in order to see it
These coins would need to be so well preserved to have a real high grade one, so if you are buying raw, and think you are getting a BU, make sure you do it in person, where you can see the coin before you buy

 

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The 1908 law mandated the motto appear on ALL US coinage not just the gold and silver. (The Buffalo nickel is actually an illegal design because it does not conform to the law and did not receive an exemption.) The 1955 law mandated the use of the motto on the US paper currency.

 

Been thinking about this post, for a while now.
Wanted to bring it back up again... The grading of these coins are so hard!

Here is the previous AU that I had owned...


There are good details on this coin, and I never saw wear, ever! Only thing that made it an AU, was probably the breaks in the luster, although, I'd be willing to bet 60's are graded with those same breaks.


Now here is the MS62 I currently own... The only difference, in hand, is obviously the color, but the luster, it is much fuller, and no definite breaks.


I feel that the 62 I own, has less details than my AU58, when you get down to the "nitty-gritty"
Look at the areas of the shoulder, on both coins, the AU58 is much sharper, while the MS62, almost appears to have wear, although it could be a weak strike, I do doubt it.

I did get a good deal on the MS62, $500, back in the summer months, I believe... Just comes to show you, how tiny the differences can be from grade to grade in this coin! AU55-58 are hard to decipher, AU58 and MS60 are hard to decipher, and even sometimes 58-62's can be hard to tell apart.

 

What is the latest Collector's Guide to Indian Head Quarter Eagles by Fuljenz / Winter. I have some fuljenz newest books but i don't have his Indian Head Quarter Eagles book? Where can you buy it?

 

Pratt's gold Indians have long been one of my favorite of all coins, as they are to many people, but anybody that plans to try and acquire one really should study them and the counterfeits prior to making a purchase. Actually, I guess that should be done before buying anything. I was checking out some stuff on the Bay the other night and saw where somebody got burned. Item number: 270789893152 This thing had red flags all over it, but I didn't see it in time to do anything about it. Years ago you could contact people on eBay and warn them, but those days are over. There's no way to warn them or tell who they are.
Chuck

 

nice thread. the 2.50 & 5 dollar indian head was something that when i first saw i knew i would eventually get one for my collection. its one of the most unique designs that will ever be minted in the states.

 

This is a good one. I missed this back in May when tmoney started it, but found it earlier today.
Another good thread on these coins was LostDutchmans high dollar 1911-D...http://www.cointalk.com/t186376/
Even though I hate to see these coins when they have the bezel ring around them, I still wear a little $2.5 on my gold chain. They are neat coins!
Chuck

 

This is also one of my favorite coins and one of the first ones I ever bought....from a coin dealer on a trip to Scottsdale. I paid top dollar, submitted it to PCGS and it came back in a body bag as it had been cleaned. The nice part of it is that I carry it as a good luck token now.

 

Can you elaborate on the red flags? I see a coin that looks a little funky, but coming from a seller who's got 100% feedback from selling coins, including quite a bit of other gold. What am I missing?

 

Here's my $2.50, used to be in jewelry but it's still one of my favorites. I love these little Indians, and I've had a couple different ones, including a $5.00 that was alot nicer, but I've always kept this one. :thumb: Just one of them there phenomenons I reckon.

 

Something just draws you to those Indian Gold coins :hug:

Left to right :

1914-D, 1915, 1911, 1912-S ($10)

1910 ($5)

 

This coin has been in the family for at least 78 years (since at least 1933).

 

I happened to recently purchase a 1 oz Canadian Grizzly from Universal Coin & Bullion (they had a special for new customers - $42 with free shipping). The day I received the coin I got a call from a Sales Rep at Universal Coin & Bullion. We started chatting it up and I mentioned that I was a big fan of the Indian Gold Coins. The sales rep mentioned that he was going to send me a book and low and behold, a copy of Mike Fuljenz book "Indian Gold Coins of the 20th Century" showed up in my mail this week!

The coin the Sales Rep was trying to see me was way over-priced .... but they certainly treat their (prospective) customers well!

Susan

Edit: I should point out that Mike Fuljenz was president of Universal Coin & Bullion, so they have a stock pile of these books.

 

Interesting read...LOL
I haven't viewed this thread in a really long time and I thank you all for posting in it to bring it back to recent posts so I could see it again.
Makes me chuckle to see how I used to take pictures...or even write threads (although this was definitely one of my better threads from 09')

Thanks guys!

And I no longer own any gold Indians, unfortunate yes, but all the proceeds of the three sales of the coins I once owned have went right back into my collecting.

 

You nailed it. It's funky looking. You have to be careful, because there are many fakes that will even fool some pros. The face on this one actually looks pretty good, but there are other signs that give it away. The first one that grabbed me was the uniformity of the headdress feathers. The barbs are all perfectly even. That is not a characteristic of a genuine Indian, but is of a fake. Another common characteristic of a fake is the glob underneath the ear. All originals will be clearly scooped out, and this one has a glob ob metal. Compare it to an original, and you will see what I mean. The stars form is also wrong. The placement of the stars is wrong. The star located at about 1 o'clock is touching the headdress feather, and will not on an original. The Indian's neck is also wrong. The safest way to purchase these would be to lean on the top graders such as PCGS and NGC or ANACS.

 

You're right-- the coin looks too "funky", especially the feathers in the headdress.