1906 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle : A Collector’s Guide

By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
 

The 1906 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle is the penultimate situation of the Christian Gobrecht $2.50 gold coin sort. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to start work on a design overhaul of all United States coin denominations with a purpose to create a coinage that projected the nation’s rising status and energy.

Roosevelt requested the artist to ship the inconceivable: a mass-produced coinage that drew upon the ultra-high-relief effigies discovered on the coinage of the traditional Greeks. Saint-Gaudens, in failing well being on the time of this fee, was in a position to ship two designs to the Mint, neither coinable with out important modifications.

For the half eagle and quarter eagle denominations, artist Bela-Lyon Pratt was tasked with creating a brand new, extra fashionable design. Pratt created a lifelike portrait of a Native American chief in Egyptian (incuse) aid and linked his design to Saint-Gaudens’ by adapting the Saint-Gaudens Standing Eagle for the reverse of the brand new $2.50 and $5 gold coin designs.

These modifications can be made within the close to future. For 1906, the Mint continued utilizing Gobrecht’s Liberty Head, which had served because the face of America’s gold $2.50 since 1840, one 12 months after the identical design appeared on the $5 gold coin.

The obverse includes a left-facing Girl Liberty sporting a coronet. She is surrounded by 13 stars representing the 13 English colonies that rebelled in opposition to the crown to kind america.

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Market Knowledge and Noteworthy Specimens

The 1906 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle is taken into account a standard date within the sequence. It is just conditionally scarce within the grade MS67+ or higher. Thus far, PCGS and NGC have mixed to report six grading occasions on the MS68 stage. One among these is CAC-approved.

Prime Inhabitants: PCGS MS68 (2, 12/2024), NGC MS68 (4, 12/2024), and CAC MS68 (1:0 stickered:graded, 12/2024).

• NGC MS68 #5748627-007: Heritage Auctions, August 3, 2020, Lot 3405 – $12,014.10. Purple firming alongside the underside of the obverse.
• PCGS MS68 CAC #26418561: As PCGS MS68 #50206699. “The Franklinton Assortment,” Stack’s, August 11, 2006, Lot 1250 – $18,400; Heritage Auctions, Might 10, 2007, Lot 2245 – $23,000. Prime pop, pop one when provided. As PCGS MS68 CAC #26418561. “The Leaping Horse Assortment, Half II,” Heritage Auctions, October 2015, Lot 3484 – $21,150; Heritage Auctions, December 13, 2018, Lot 4253 – $24,000. Orange spot on the high of the crown. Diagonal scratch above Liberty’s high curl. Small tick to the suitable of Liberty’s neck.
• PCGS MS68 #32601849: As NGC MS68 #3316129-005. Heritage Auctions, March 18, 2011, Lot 4671 – $14,950. As PCGS MS68 #32601849. Dell Loy Hansen. Crossed to PCGS. Contact mark on the decrease neck. Calmly toned all through. Tiny spot beneath E of AMERICA. Tiny spot above eagle’s left wing. Spot beneath proper wing. 
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #25650192: “The Kennedy Assortment,” Heritage Auctions, January 8, 2016, Lot 6384 – $4,700; “The Drumwright Household Assortment,” Heritage Auctions, January 14, 2025, Lot TBD – View. Copper spot in decrease proper obverse subject. Copper spot between star 7 and rim.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #35292497: Heritage Auctions, September 2020, Lot 3288 – $4,454; Heritage Auctions, February 8, 2024, Lot 3150 – $5,640. Small carbon spot beneath the left tip of the bust. Gentle mark beneath stars 7 and eight.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #34629181: Heritage Auctions, November 8, 2018, Lot 3211 – $5,520.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #81947400: Heritage Auctions, Might 9, 2017, Lot 23778 – $4,582.50; “The Digiovanni de Abruzzi Assortment,” Heritage Auctions, January 5, 2018, Lot 6043 – $4,320. Copper discoloration from star 10 to rim (obverse) and beneath eagle’s proper wing (reverse).
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #31820535: Heritage Auctions, August 14, 2015, Lot 6072 – $4,935.

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1906 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle Coin Specs

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