Description
The $5 Indian gold coin is one of two coins designed by sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt. (
Click here to see the other.)
As with the $20 Saint-Gaudens gold piece, President Theodore Roosevelt
played an important role in revamping this smaller gold coin. While
looking for a sculptor to design these coins, Roosevelt's good friend,
Dr. William Sturgis Bigelow, recommended Pratt who had once been a
student of
Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Although the $5 Indian Head is
smaller and less spectacular than the coins of his mentor, the Pratt
coins are, in a sense, more innovative and daring.
Design
The obverse pictures an Indian
Chief, the first true American Indian ever to appear on United States
coinage. Previously, Caucasian models dressed in American Indian attire
were used. The chief on the Indian Head is wearing a full-feathered
headdress with the word 'Liberty' inscribed on the headband. A border
of thirteen stars and the minting date encircle him.
The reverse features a proud bald eagle standing among olive
branches, surrounded by the words 'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'. The motto
'IN GOD WE TRUST' and the denomination also appear on the reverse.
Minting Information
What sets the $5 and $2.50 Indian
Head gold coins apart from other United States coins is that they were
the first (and only) U.S. coins to use the technique known as incuse
relief, giving the design elements and lettering a sunken-in appearance
on a uniformly flat plane.
| Detailed Coin Information |
| Designer: Bela Lyon Pratt |
| Gross Weight: 8.359g |
Gold Content: 0.24187 oz. |
| Composition: 90% gold, 10% copper |
| Diameter: 21.6mm |
Edge: Reeded |
| Dates: 1908-16; 1929 |
| Mints: Denver (1908-11; 1914), Philadelphia (1908-15; 1929), San Francisco (1908-16) |
| Detailed Coin Information |
| Designer: Bela Lyon Pratt |
| Gross Weight: 8.359g |
Gold Content: 0.24187 oz. |
| Composition: 90% gold, 10% copper |
| Diameter: 21.6mm |
Edge: Reeded |
| Dates: 1908-16; 1929 |
| Mints: Denver (1908-11; 1914), Philadelphia (1908-15; 1929), San Francisco (1908-16) |
