1927 Quarter Eagle Indian (1927 $2.50 Indian) NGC MS61. This lustrous Indian Head 1927 Quarter Eagle shows some small scratches and handling marks that keep it from a higher mint state grade. The strike is strong on the obverse as well as the reverse. The coin designed by Bela Lyon Pratt shows an unknown Native American brave in profile facing left. His realistic portrait is a departure from the stylized so called Indian head coins of the past. For those, Caucasian women wearing headdresses were used. The reverse motif shows an upright eagle standing on a bundle of arrows that resemble fasces, the Roman symbol for the power of life and death, with an olive branch in its talon. Thus the symbols of preparedness for battle and peace are entwined.

The coin is incuse, which was a technique the ancients used; however, this design was never used before on a United States circulating coin. It drew much criticism from the banking and coin collecting communities, but the public was generally indifferent.