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 issue of the Christian Gobrecht $2.50 gold coin type. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to begin work on a design overhaul of all United States coin denominations in order to create a coinage that projected the country’s growing prestige and power.

Roosevelt asked the artist to deliver the impossible: a mass-produced coinage that drew upon the ultra-high-relief effigies found on the coinage of the ancient Greeks. Saint-Gaudens, in failing health at the time of this commission, was able to deliver two designs to the Mint, neither coinable without significant modifications.

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

These changes would be made in the near future. For 1906, the Mint continued using Gobrecht’s Liberty Head, which had served as the face of America’s gold $2.50 since 1840, one year after the same design appeared on the $5 gold coin.

The obverse features a left-facing Lady Liberty wearing a coronet. She is surrounded by 13 stars representing the 13 English colonies that rebelled against the crown to form the United States.

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Market Data and Noteworthy Specimens

The 1906 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle is considered a common date in the series. It is only conditionally scarce in the grade MS67+ or better. To date, PCGS and NGC have combined to report six grading events at the MS68 level. One of these is CAC-approved.

Top Population: 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 toning along the bottom of the obverse.
• PCGS MS68 CAC #26418561: As PCGS MS68 #50206699. “The Franklinton Collection,” Stack’s, August 11, 2006, Lot 1250 – $18,400; Heritage Auctions, May 10, 2007, Lot 2245 – $23,000. Top pop, pop one when offered. As PCGS MS68 CAC #26418561. “The Jumping Horse Collection, Part II,” Heritage Auctions, October 2015, Lot 3484 – $21,150; Heritage Auctions, December 13, 2018, Lot 4253 – $24,000. Orange spot at the top of the crown. Diagonal scratch above Liberty’s top curl. Small tick to the right 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 lower neck. Lightly toned throughout. Tiny spot below E of AMERICA. Tiny spot above eagle’s left wing. Spot below right wing. 
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #25650192: “The Kennedy Collection,” Heritage Auctions, January 8, 2016, Lot 6384 – $4,700; “The Drumwright Family Collection,” Heritage Auctions, January 14, 2025, Lot TBD – View. Copper spot in lower right obverse field. 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 below the left tip of the bust. Light mark under stars 7 and 8.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #34629181: Heritage Auctions, November 8, 2018, Lot 3211 – $5,520.
• PCGS MS67+ CAC #81947400: Heritage Auctions, May 9, 2017, Lot 23778 – $4,582.50; “The Digiovanni de Abruzzi Collection,” Heritage Auctions, January 5, 2018, Lot 6043 – $4,320. Copper discoloration from star 10 to rim (obverse) and below eagle’s right 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 Specifications

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