1911 Indian Quarter Eagle--Struck 5% Off Center--MS-61 (PCGS). A rare and exciting major Mint error on a classic United States gold coin. The strike is off center to 5 oclock, although at least 75% of the date is present, the digits sharp and leaving no doubt about the year of manufacture. The surfaces are bright, lustrous and sport razor sharp detail to virtually all other design elements. Vivid medium gold color with an uncommonly smooth appearance in hand for the assigned grade.<p>As a group, off center coins are among the most frequently encountered and best known major Mint errors. The excellent reference <em>The Error Coin Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition</em> by Arnold Margolis and Fred Weinberg explains how errors of this type occur:<p><em>"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."</em><p>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.<p>While quarter eagles are the most readily obtainable off center gold coin, they are rare in an absolute sense. Writing in the popular book <em>1</em><em>00 Greatest U.S. Error Coins </em>(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 <em>Worlds Greatest Mint Errors</em> by Mike Byers. A 1910 struck off center is ranked No. 45 in the <em>100 Greatest U.S. Error Coins</em> book, while Byers features a second 1912, struck 5% off center, alongside the aforementioned 10% off center coin.<p>In recent years we have offered five different off center Indian quarter eagles through auction, three dated 1911, two 1912 and a 1913. 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.
