1907

The 1907 Quarter Eagle closes a remarkable run. Philadelphia struck 336,448 business pieces, the highest mintage of the four years that wrapped up the Liberty Head Coronet $2.50 series, and the final coins to leave the presses bearing Christian Gobrecht's 1840 portrait. Beginning in 1908, Bela Lyon Pratt's incused Indian Head design would replace it, an aesthetically and technically radical departure that sank the design elements below the field plane rather than raising them above it. The handoff was part of the broader Roosevelt-Saint-Gaudens redesign of American gold coinage, though Pratt rather than Saint-Gaudens received the Quarter Eagle and Half Eagle assignments. The healthy 1907 output reflects both routine bank and jeweler demand and a measure of late-series pickup as the Mint cleared its die inventory in advance of the upcoming changeover. Survivor populations are accordingly strong across every grade band, and the date is among the most accessible of any nineteenth- or early-twentieth-century Quarter Eagle for collectors seeking a final-year type representative.

Authentication of the 1907 begins with weight: a genuine piece reads 4.18 grams at 0.900 fineness on a calibrated scale, and any meaningful drop signals a plated, cast, or reduced-fineness counterfeit. Diameter holds at 18 millimeters and coin alignment is ↑↓, with the reeded edge showing crisp, evenly spaced tooling that reflects light uniformly. Authentic dies of this final year produced complete denticles, full LIBERTY lettering on coins not heavily worn, and an eagle whose shield divisions, arrows, and olive branch all show strong relief under a 5x or 10x loupe. Mint State examples typically display fresh satiny luster with rolling cartwheel rotation, though some pieces from late-1907 die pairs come with somewhat softer strike on the eagle's leg feathering, a die-state quirk rather than a counterfeit signal. Edge thickness and reeding count both serve as quick comparative checks against a known-genuine example when authenticity is uncertain.

As the closing date of the Coronet Quarter Eagle, the 1907 carries clear type appeal alongside its date-set role. See the full Liberty Head Quarter Eagle series history.