1913 Indian Quarter Eagle--Struck 3% Off Center--AU-58 (PCGS).A rare and exciting major Mint error on a classic United States gold coin. The strike is off center to 6 oclock, although 75% of the date is present, the digits sharp and leaving no doubt about the year of manufacture. The outer points of stars 1 and 13 are off the flan, but the entire obverse design is fully appreciable. The same is true of the reverse, on which side the error affects only the top of the letters STATES OF A in the legend. Both sides are sharply struck with soft satin luster and vivid deep gold patina. An attractive coin in all regards, and a major rarity due to the error.As a group, off center coins are among the most frequently encountered and best known major Mint errors. The excellent reference The Error Coin Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition by Arnold Margolis and Fred Weinberg explains how errors of this type occur:The off center strike happens when the blank which is supposed to be fed into the press and land in the collar and rest on the lower die, doesnt do that. Instead, the blank falls in a random manner so that it is partly on top of the collar. In this way only part of the blank is between the upper and lower dies. When the dies strike the blank, only part of the design will be stamped into that blank. Part of the blank will remain unstruck and featureless.Off center errors are known for all denominations and types of coins struck in the United States Mint, although they are rare on gold coins. In fact, major Mint error of all types are rare on gold coins, these issues generally having lower mintages than small denomination coins such as cents and nickels, providing fewer opportunities for such blunders to occur in the first place. Additionally, gold coins were examined more carefully than minor and silver coins due to their higher face value. Mint employees were far more likely to catch errors on gold coins before they left the Mint, any oddities that were noticed being set aside and eventually destroyed through melting.While quarter eagles are the most readily obtainable off center gold coin, they are rare in an absolute sense. Writing in the popular book 100 Greatest U.S. Error Coins (2010), Nicholas P. Brown, David J. Camire and Fred Weinberg estimate that fewer than a dozen off center Indian quarter eagles are known. The authors state that all examples known to them are struck less than 5% off center, although your cataloger (JLA) is aware of a 1912 struck 10% off center and certified AU-55 by PCGS. That coin was featured in the 2009 reference Worlds Greatest Mint Errors by Mike Byers. A 1910 struck off center is ranked No. 45 in the 100 Greatest U.S. Error Coins book, while Byers features a second 1912, struck 5% off center, alongside the aforementioned 10% off center coin.In recent years we have offered five different off center Indian quarter eagles through auction, three dated 1911 and the remaining two 1912. This is the first off center 1913 quarter eagle that we have handled, a date that is not represented in either the Brown et al or Byers references. To the best of our knowledge, in fact, this coin is unique as an off center error on a 1913 quarter eagle. A rare find for the Mint error enthusiast, this important example would do equally well in an advanced collection of 20th century U.S. Mint gold coinage.
