1908 $2.50 PR(PCGS#7957)

November 2025 Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

Auctioneer

Stack's Bowers

Lot Number

3110

Grade

PR67

Price

38,400

Lot Description

A highly significant offering for this first year Indian quarter eagle issue in Superb Gem Proof. The dark finish used for this issue is unique in the Proof Indian quarter eagle series, and it is on full display here. Both sides exhibit dominant khaki-gold color with an underlying golden-honey tint that provides a more vivid appearance under a light. Writing in his 2018 reference <em>United States Proof Coin</em>s, John W. Dannreuther states that the reason the 1908 has an darker finish than any other Proof issue in this series is because "a coarser sand grain was used to sandblast the coins after they were struck." The myriad sparkling facets that are characteristic of this finish are also readily evident when the present specimen is examined with the aid of a loupe. Crisply defined throughout and expertly preserved.<p>Although aesthetics may have played a part, the real reason why the Mint abandoned the brilliant finish for Proof gold coins upon the launch of the new Pratt and Saint-Gaudens designs in 1908 was because the "grounds of these designs is uneven," as Philadelphia Mint Superintendent Adam Joyce put in a letter to Director of the Mint F.J.H. von Engelken dated October 17, 1916. John W. Dannreuther has translated this as, "Because of the incuse devices on [the Indian quarter eagle and half eagle] and the curved fields on the [Indian] eagle and [Saint-Gaudens] double eagle, the Mint announced that Proofs could no longer be made with the brilliant finish because of the difficulty in polishing the dies." As noted so often in our catalogs, the various finishes that the Mint used in lieu of the brilliant finish proved unpopular with contemporary collectors, leading to the suspension of Proof gold coinage after 1915.<p>The Mint produced 500 Sandblast Proofs of the new Indian quarter eagle in 1908, but only 236 of these coins were distributed, with the rest melted in the Mint. Not all of the coins that were distributed were preserved, and impaired examples are occasionally encountered. Only 100 to 120 are believed extant, and Superb Gems such as this are very rare from a condition standpoint.