One year after President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned Bela Lyon Pratt to design the $2.50 and $5.00 gold pieces, Pratt took the numismatic community by surprise with an innovative design that featured the legends and devices incused rather than raised on the coin. In other words, as a departure from earlier United States coinage, the devices were recessed into the surface of the coin. Only the mintmarks are raised. No other U.S. coins have ever been minted in a similar manner. This has greatly enhanced the popularity of these issues among collectors throughout the years. 

A proud native American chieftain, the model unnamed and his tribe unknown, dominates the obverse of both of the Indian Quarter Eagle and Half Eagle. On the reverse, an American eagle rests atop a bundle of arrows and an olive branch, symbols of war and peace. 

Because Pratt chose not to use rims to protect the surfaces of these coins, uncirculated examples are scarce and superb gems are very difficult to come by.