Lot 3904
1929 $5 Indian. PCGS graded MS-61. Nice untoned example of this key date. A radiant example, fully original with brilliant gold color that rises and falls in an almost rhythmic display. Associated with this grade, a few light marks on the Indian's face and in the field on either side of the eagle. There is a small scuff in the frost of the lower leg on the eagle. Here, too, we are struck by the nice, convincing design detail for all areas of this important key date half eagle of 1929, a coin with only the slightest amount of flatness on the lower war bonnet feathers.
When Bela Lyon Pratt's new Indian head motif was launched upon the American waters in 1908, the public was at first shocked but soon grew used to the novelty. Never before in American numismatics had a coin designer broken with tradition in such a overt way as did Pratt. For what Pratt did was to recess the design below the surface of the coin! Forget the fact that his half eagles and quarter eagles were far more aesthetically challenging than the long-running and tired-appearing Liberty heads they replaced. Unlike his predecessors, Pratt chose to honor a real American Indian for a change, not some allegorical Greek goddess wearing an incongruous Indian headdress. And because of this, his design helped to propel American coin design into the World Class league, as this rare 1929 issue exemplifies. Pop 23. (PCGS # 8533) .
Estimated Value $12,000 - 13,000.
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| Realized $16,100 |
