1908 $5 (1908 Half Eagle) Indian NGC MS66. This frosty, superb 1908 Half Eagle is what is known as a condition rarity. It is tied for fourth best at NGC and second best at PCGS. Both sides are nearly pristine as expected for the grade. The strike is full throughout the headdress and the wing feathers.

Designed by Bela Lyon Pratt, the half eagle depicts a realistic Indian brave facing left wearing an authentic looking headdress. LIBERTY is above and the date below. On the left are six five-pointed stars and on the right are seven. The designer’s initials are above the date. The reverse shows a large, majestic eagle standing on a bundle of arrows with an olive branch in its talon. The motif, reminiscent of the ancient Egyptians, is in homage to Augustus Saint-Gaudens and taken from his ten dollar coin. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the words separated by dots, is at the top. The denomination written as 2 ½ DOLLARS is below. Both mottos E PLURIBUS UNUM and IN GOD WE TRUST are present with the former on the left and the latter on the right. The most innovative feature of this coin and Pratt’s quarter eagle as well, is that it is incuse. The devices are sunk beneath the fields. With this arrangement the high points of the design could not easily be worn away; however, the fields are susceptible to abrasion and wear because they are not protected by rims.

Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow, a friend of President Theodore Roosevelt and art collector and connoisseur, convinced him to allow Pratt to create unusual coins for the new quarter and half eagles. Neither man had any confidence in Engraver Charles Barber. They felt that any design he made would be mundane, and Roosevelt wanted to reform the coinage of the country, which had already begun with Saint-Gaudens’ eagle and double eagle. Pratt’s choice of a realistic Indian motif is a departure from the idealized female “Indian” Head of prior years. Although the identity of the brave and his tribe are unknown, the design is seen as a continuation of a trend started with the portrait of “Running Antelope,” the Sioux chief on the 1899 five dollar bill.

The new Indian Head half eagle was put into production in 1908. Theodore Roosevelt, who had become president as a result of McKinley’s assassination in 1901 and was in his second term of office, believed that it was time to reform all United States coinage, which in his opinion was “atrociously hideous.” He wanted to put into place his “pet crime” to improve coinage designs by bypassing the mediocre Charles Barber. Earlier Roosevelt prevailed on the world-renown sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, to remake the gold eagle and double eagle coins. Now, influenced by Bigelow, Roosevelt agreed to have Bela Lyon Pratt redesign the gold half eagle and quarter eagle. Roosevelt got the idea of making the coins incuse, like certain ancient Egyptian coins. Certainly this new design would make them different from the coinage that come before.

Bela Lyon Pratt designed this coin and the similar quarter eagle. They were different from what had preceded in that the designs were incused. The background of the prior issues had become the foreground. The design was sunk into the field and shown in relief. The design was not popular with the public. It was an innovation never previously used on circulating United States coinage, and it was criticized by people in banking and numismatics. They felt that the new coins could be easily counterfeited, wouldn’t stack easily, and were unsanitary because dirt would remain in the incused features. They also felt that the design was not natural. However, as a whole, the public was indifferent to the new coins, and the Indian Head half eagle coins remained in production and in circulation until 1929, when the Great Depression caused economic upheaval.

The 1908 half eagle had an original mintage of 577,845, which indicates that the coin is relatively common; however, in its population report, NGC shows 16 in MS66 with 5 better.