1908-P Indian Head Quarter Eagle
Key dateThe first year of Bela Lyon Pratt's design, and one of the two denominations that carry the only incuse design in regular United States coinage: the devices are sunk below the surface rather than raised above it. The approach drew immediate objection, including a widely repeated claim that the recesses would harbour dirt and spread disease, which did not survive contact with evidence but did follow the series for years.
Mintage
- Business strikes
- 564,821
- Mint
- Philadelphia (no mintmark)
- Mintage rank
- 10 of 15
- Proofs struck
- 236
Rank 1 is the lowest business-strike mintage in the series. Mintage is what the Mint produced, not what survives. Gold coin was recalled in 1933 under Executive Order 6102 and the Treasury melted much of what it held, so survival across this series runs well below the figures below.
Reading the figure
Among the 12 Philadelphia issues in the series it is the 8th smallest. It is the only issue of the series struck in 1908. In 1908 the coin was struck at Philadelphia; Denver struck none.
Every sentence above is computed from the mintage table on this page, not asserted separately.
Scarcity tier
Key date
Assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 is a key date, under 2,500,000 is a semi-key.
This is a reproducible label derived from the mintage column, not a market valuation and not a Coin Curator price opinion. The same thresholds apply to every series on this site. Several dates are far harder or far easier to obtain than their mintage implies; where that is true, it is stated above.
Recent sold prices
Last checked Sep 14, 2026 · most recent sale Sep 12, 2026What certified 1908-P Indian Head quarter eagles actually sold for on eBay in the last 90 days, grouped by grade band. Every figure below is a completed sale of a PCGS, NGC or ANACS coin in a straight grade. This is a record of what changed hands, not a price guide, an appraisal, or a prediction of what yours is worth.
About Uncirculated
AU50 to AU58$700
Median of 5 sales
- Lowest
- $536
- Highest
- $950
The 4 most recent sales
- $950NGC AU58 · Sep 12, 20261908 P $2.5 Gold Indian Head Quarter Eagle, NGC AU 58
- $730NGC AU58 · Aug 30, 20261908 $2.5 Gold Indian Head Quarter Eagle, NGC AU58. Clean strike, First Year
- $699PCGS AU55 · Aug 14, 20261908 $2.50 Indian Head Gold Quarter Eagle Coin PCGS AU55 Graded Collector Item
- $700PCGS AU58 · Aug 7, 2026PCGS AU58 1908 $2.50 Indian Head Quarter Eagle Gold Coin Business Strike P
Seller titles, verbatim. An ended eBay listing stays readable for about 90 days, so older links will expire.
Mint State
MS60 and above$990
Median of 8 sales
- Lowest
- $867
- Highest
- $1,941
The 4 most recent sales
- $867NGC MS62 · Sep 6, 20261908 US Gold $2.5 Indian Head Quarter Eagle - NGC MS 62
- $896NGC MS62 · Sep 2, 20261908 $2.50 Indian Head Gold Quarter Eagle NGC MS62
- $1,941NGC MS64 · Sep 1, 20261908 $2.5 Indian Head Quarter Eagle Gold Coin - NGC MS64
- $1,445NGC MS63 · Aug 21, 20261908 $2.5 Gold Indian Head Quarter Eagle NGC MS 63
Seller titles, verbatim. An ended eBay listing stays readable for about 90 days, so older links will expire.
How to read these
- The median is the middle sale after removing outliers. The range is every sale kept, including the outliers, so you can see how wide the market actually is.
- Grade drives most of the difference. A band with three sales tells you far less than a band with thirty, and the count is shown so you can weigh it.
- Sales of coins in “Details”, “Genuine” or cleaned holders are excluded, as are proofs, replicas, lots, and mounted coins. Those sell at prices that would not describe the coin on this page.
- So is any sale priced below what this same date fetches in a lower grade, which is impossible for a real coin and is how a counterfeit in a convincing holder gives itself away.
Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and holds no licensed price guide or population data. How this data is collected.
Documented varieties
Incuse design
The devices and legends are sunk into the surface rather than raised. Used only on the Indian Head quarter eagle and half eagle.
Widely recognised varieties only. The VAM reference catalogs thousands of die marriages across these series; the absence of a variety here does not mean none is documented elsewhere.
Every issue here is labelled a key date, which tells you nothing. Every issue in this series is labelled a key date, and that tells you nothing. Read the full note on the series page.
What to check before buying
Nothing about this date calls for a check beyond the ones that apply to any certified coin.
And for any certified coin
Verify the certification number on the grading service’s own lookup rather than from a photograph of the label, match the listing images to the certification record including grade and any variety attribution, look for cleaning, compare the mintmark against published photographs of the genuine issue, and read the return policy before buying. The grading guide covers each of these in full.
Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and holds no licensed price guide or population data. Where this page shows recent sold prices, they are records of completed eBay sales, not a valuation of any particular coin. These are verification steps, not an appraisal.
Verify a certification number
Look a 1908-P certification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.
Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.
Find a 1908-P for sale
Opens an eBay search for this exact date and mint. Coin Curator does not list inventory, hold stock, or set prices; verify each listing, seller, and return policy directly.
Affiliate link: Coin Curator may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Disclosure.
Common questions
How many 1908-P Indian Head quarter eagles were minted?
The Philadelphia Mint struck 564,821 1908-P Indian Head quarter eagles for circulation. That is the 10th lowest business-strike mintage of the 15 date and mintmark combinations in the series.
Is the 1908-P Indian Head quarter eagle a key date?
Coin Curator labels it a key date, assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 struck is a key date and under 2,500,000 is a semi-key. The same thresholds are used for every series on this site, so the tiers are comparable between them. That label describes production, not market value or how hard the coin is to find today. The first year of Bela Lyon Pratt's design, and one of the two denominations that carry the only incuse design in regular United States coinage: the devices are sunk below the surface rather than raised above it. The approach drew immediate objection, including a widely repeated claim that the recesses would harbour dirt and spread disease, which did not survive contact with evidence but did follow the series for years.
What varieties exist for the 1908-P Indian Head quarter eagle?
Widely recognised varieties for this issue include Incuse design. The devices and legends are sunk into the surface rather than raised. Used only on the Indian Head quarter eagle and half eagle. Variety attributions should appear on the certification label rather than only in a seller's description.
What should I check before buying a 1908-P Indian Head quarter eagle?
Verify the certification number on the grading service's own lookup page, match the listing photographs to the certification record, check for cleaning, and compare the mintmark shape and position against published photographs of the genuine issue.
Related dates
Guides for this coin
All guides →Pre-1933 Gold Coin Collecting and Market Context
Research Saint-Gaudens, Liberty Head, and Indian Head gold by exact type, date, grade, surfaces, current metal value, and coin-specific evidence.
1 min readBuying GuideHow to Spot a Counterfeit or Doctored Coin
Use weight, dimensions, surfaces, mintmark details, holder inspection, and certification records as screening checks. Learn the warning signs of altered coins and fake slabs.
1 min readEducationWhat Makes a Coin a “Key Date”, and Why It Drives Value
Coins from the same series can differ sharply in availability and demand. Learn how date, mintmark, variety, grade, and surfaces shape key-date research.
1 min readBuying GuideApproachable Key-Date Coins to Research First
Seven dates that teach scarcity, identification, grade tradeoffs, and counterfeit-aware buying, without promising a fixed price or resale result.
1 min readMintage sources
Mintage figures are U.S. Mint production records, cross-checked against the published tables below on 2026-08-02. Where those tables disagree, the disagreement is disclosed on the affected page rather than resolved silently.
- CoinMintages.com, Indian Head quarter eagle mintages — Business strikes and proofs listed separately. Used as the business-strike figures here.
- USA Coin Book, Indian Head quarter eagle — Independent table. Agrees on every Denver issue; its Philadelphia figures add that year's proofs into the total.
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