Approximately Quarter ounce of gold

Design by Bela Lyon Pratt commissioned by Teddy Roosevelt.

Sunken-relief design also known as Incused, one of two U.S. coins with this design. (Design shared by the $2.5 Indian)

Struck at the Philadelphia, Denver, New Orleans and San Francisco mints.

Total Mintage: 14,078,066 Unc 1,077 Proof’s

Obverse design: Depicts a realistic-looking Indian brave in a war bonnet, with the date, thirteen stars and the motto LIBERTY forming a circle around this central device.

Reverse design: Shows an eagle in repose, perched upon fasces and an olive branch, the intertwined symbols of preparedness and peace. Through judicious sizing and placement, Pratt succeeded in incorporating four different inscriptions on this side, (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, IN GOD WE TRUST and the statement of value) without causing the coin to seem unbalanced, cluttered or cramped.

Mint Mark Location: Raised on reverse to the left of the arrows.

The coin features a Reeded Edge.

Popularity was poor during the times of issue due to the incused design. People thought the crevices would carry diseases which was a huge issue of the time (also inaccurate) adding to the low mintage.

Limited Mintages: The incuse $5 Indians were minted intermittently for only 10 years between 1908 to 1929. In 1916 minting was halted and nearly all gold pieces were withheld from circulation. The $5 Indians were then minted for only one final year in 1929. Gold coins were recalled in 1933 to the US Treasury where most Indian coinage was destroyed in the Great Gold Meltdowns.

Lowest Mintages: 1908-S (82,000) 1909-O (34,200) 1911-D (72,500)

Rare Dates: 1929 (Due to melting of coins) 1909-O and the 1911-D

Less than 1% of the total mintage has been graded in a Mint State condition by PCGS & NGC combined.

In January 1914, with Europe on the brink of war and the United States in the throes of a depression, Henry Ford announced that he was doubling his workers’ pay from $2.34 per day to a princely $5 and, at the same time, reducing their nine-hour workday to eight hours. Ford Motor Company was, he said, initiating “the greatest revolution in the matter of rewards for its workers ever known to the industrial world.” Strange as it may seem in today’s inflated economy, $5 per day was indeed a handsome wage in 1914, and what Ford did was every bit as revolutionary as he proclaimed.



Clearly then, the half eagle—or $5 gold piece—was a coin with considerable clout in 1914, even though it was only slightly larger than the then brand-new “Buffalo” nickel. After all, it represented a full day’s pay for well-paid workers—enough to buy a pair of trousers plus a pair of work boots.