The $2½ Indian, also know as the Pratt Quarter Eagle (named after sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt) was minted from 1908-1929. Pratt, a former student of Saint-Gaudens was commissioned to create a new design for the gold coins, choosing a portrait of a Native American Chief. This is the first time in American coinage that the design had been sunken into the coin instead of raised. The obverse of the coin depicts an Indian chief wearing a feathered headdress with the word “Liberty” inscribed. The minting date and 13 stars encircle him.
