Lot 3248
1911-D $2.50 Indian. PCGS graded MS-63. Popular key date for this series, one with an international reputation. Probably there is not a prominent numismatist who has not marked the 1911-D quarter eagle down as a possible purchase. Lightly toned and well struck. A bright and gleaming '11-D key date whose frosted luster seems poised to detonate like a million tiny diamond-sparkles; plus we find a touch of faint natural patina, especially around the fields and other high points of this intriguing design. Boldly struck with full detail on both sides, a full mintmark as well. Unquestionably worth your consideration.
The obverse portrays Brule Lakota Chief Hollow Horn Bear, who had taken part in Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade, March 4, 1905. The Chief died March 15, 1913, age 54, at Providence Hospital, according to the notice in the April 1913 Numismatist, which misidentified him as the model for the 1899 $5 Silver Certificates. His true identity as Boston sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt's model for the 1908 quarter eagles and half eagles first came to light in an exhibit in the 1988 ANA Convention. The coin itself is designed using an (at the time) unfamiliar conception know as "recessed relief." One of the coin's severest critics was the Philadelphia coin dealer Samuel Hudson Chapman, who falsely alleged that the designs were antinaturalistic, unhygienic [!], incapable of stacking, and too easily counterfeited. (Chapman's major objection to the eagle was well founded, but the blame is on Charles E. Barber, not Pratt; Pratt knew what a bald eagle looked like from working with models and photographs -- otherwise President Roosevelt would not have approved his design -- whereas Barber, the Mint engraver who transferred the models to the master hubs, evidently did not.) Despite these objections, the design remained without further modification through 1929. Pop 286; 260 in 64, 17 in 65, 3 in 66 (PCGS # 7943) .
Estimated Value $17,000 - 18,000.
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