1911-D Indian Head Quarter Eagle

Key date

The key of the series by a wide margin, and the only Denver quarter eagle before 1914. Denver struck 55,680, less than a tenth of a typical Philadelphia year, and the coins circulated.

Mintage

Business strikes: 55,680
Mint: Denver (D)
Mintage rank: 1 of 15

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

It is the smallest of the 3 Denver issues in the series. Of the 759,680 struck across all mints in 1911, this issue accounts for 7%. Philadelphia struck 13 times as many that year. The 1911 split ran Philadelphia 704,000 and Denver 55,680. The series median is 492,000, so fewer than half as many of these were struck as a typical date. Series-wide output rose sharply that year: 759,680 against 492,000 in 1910. 1911 was the largest production year of the entire series. It is the first year Denver struck the design.

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.

Documented varieties

Weak D and Strong D

The D mintmark appears in noticeably different strengths, and a weakly struck D is easily confused with a coin whose mintmark has been added or tooled.

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

Specific to the 1911-D:

1This is the date the series is counterfeited for, usually by adding a D to a Philadelphia coin. The incuse design makes tooling harder to spot than on a raised design, so certification by a major service is the practical baseline.
2Distinguish a genuinely weak D from an added one: the certification record will say which, and a photograph will usually not.

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 publishes no price or population data. These are verification steps, not a valuation.

Verify a certification number

Look a 1911-Dcertification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.

PCGS cert lookup NGC cert lookup ANACS cert lookup

Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.

Find a 1911-D for sale

Opens an eBay search for this exact date and mint. Coin Curator does not list inventory, hold stock, or quote prices; verify each listing, seller, and return policy directly.

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Common questions

How many 1911-D Indian Head quarter eagles were minted?

The Denver Mint struck 55,680 1911-D Indian Head quarter eagles for circulation. That is the 1st lowest business-strike mintage of the 15 date and mintmark combinations in the series.

Is the 1911-D 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 key of the series by a wide margin, and the only Denver quarter eagle before 1914. Denver struck 55,680, less than a tenth of a typical Philadelphia year, and the coins circulated.

What varieties exist for the 1911-D Indian Head quarter eagle?

Widely recognised varieties for this issue include Weak D and Strong D. The D mintmark appears in noticeably different strengths, and a weakly struck D is easily confused with a coin whose mintmark has been added or tooled. Variety attributions should appear on the certification label rather than only in a seller's description.

What should I check before buying a 1911-D 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. This is the date the series is counterfeited for, usually by adding a D to a Philadelphia coin. The incuse design makes tooling harder to spot than on a raised design, so certification by a major service is the practical baseline.

Guides for this coin

All guides →

Market Context

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 read Buying Guide

How 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 read Education

What 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.