1911 Indian Head Quarter Eagle Denver Mint

I will say AU 58.

This is where gold gets tricky for me to grade when it is high AU to mint state. At first glance it appears ms, but looking at it with different angles it may have lightly circulated, hence my guess an au58....it could well very be mint state. The only real way to know would be to send it to PCGS or NGC and find out.

My first guess was XF, due to wear on the cheek and top of the wing. This is a notoriously difficult series to grade as the design is incuse and the fields show wear before most of the design. An AU-55 coin should not have much wear on the upper wing and cheek. I'd say XF, but I could see it being sold as AU-50.

Looks authentic in the AU-55, possibly 58 range.

This is a coin you absolutely must send to NGC or PCGS to get maximum value, regardless of grade.

AU-55, shot 58. Nice example.

Just FYI, the line in the arrows does not determine authenticity on a 1911-D. I have had numerous conversations and numerous re-grading attempts through PCGS with a coin I have. My coin has the line in the arrows EXACTLY as shown in the pic above. PCGS said that is not a determining die characteristic.

PCGS graders are keying in on a "line in the eagle's beak". I am not sure where this line exists...would love to see a closeup of the beak to determine what PCGS is looking for!

To try to get a better understanding of how these things are graded, I have loaded some examples of MS61 quarter eagles, followed by an example of a MS64 and finally a AU58, the grade many or most have assigned to the subject of this post. I'm sorry, It looks like most responders gave a AU55, maybe AU58 and one gave it a AU50. I'm not questioning anyones experience or level of "expertise" as I am a total novice and this clearly takes years of experience to begin to understand the comlexities of grading the 1911 indian head. I mean maybe its the glue but I dont get the logic. I see the possible wear on the cheek and the shoulder, I see it in every grade posted below. Yes even the MS64. I see the possible wear on the cheek. I see it in several of them. I see the noticible flaws, knicks, etc in the faces of every coin, some inexplicably worse than others. The most stark difference between all is the AU58 and the others, including the subject of this post. So my question is, What am I missing? Even in my most objective efforts, I dont see the relativity nor contrast between the AU55, the AU58 and the subject coin. I can maybe see a 58 if I am hyper critical of every flaw and ignorant of those in certified 58s. But a 55 and better yet a 50? The contrast between other 55 and 50 coins and the subject coin are hideous. Did anyone actually make any basic comparisons before offering an opinion? No big deal if not, I would just like to know in assessing the reliability of advice available and prevailing level of expertise or acumen in the subject matter.

I have added a AU50 example for reference. Hope this helps in future efforts.