1916-S Gold Indian Head $5 Coin

Welcome to CCF. This is certainly an illustrious start to your time here - the coin you present in this thread is likely worth upwards of 1000x its' face value. It is, to my mind, imperative that this one be submitted for authentication and grading by one of the major third-party graders - to use an analogy you'll be familiar with, it would make the difference between having a numbers-matching Hemi Cuda and a clone, in the perception of the numismatic community.

This coin is known as a "Condition Rarity." Even though they're fairly common, 240,000 having been minted, they are extremely rare in higher Uncirculated grades. Yours certainly appears to be in such a grade, probably among the hundred or so finest known, and it must be treated as such. That means getting it immediately into a holder in which it will contact *nothing*, not even cloth - gold is soft and cloth will cause scratches - and having it professionally evaluated at your earliest convenience. Submitting the coin to PCGS will cost a pretty penny for this example, in the neighborhood of $100 once all costs are tabulated, but the result will be a coin worth north of $5000.

Welcome!
That is a beautiful coin and it certainly looks mint state. With the cluster of hairline scratches noted by Bherring I would expect MS-63 might be the appropriate grade. The S mintmark at the tip of the reverse arrow bundle is a shapeless blob, as is common for San Francisco coins of this type. It does not indicate any damage or defect.

Be aware that the grading services are notorious for finding subtle defects such as "cleaning" or "altered surface" on coins submitted for grading. Your coin looks defect-free (except for the aforementioned scratches) but that doesn't mean the service won't find a problem. That is the risk you take when submitting a coin. That said, I would suggest PCGS as your first choice. Coins in PCGS holders are likely to yield the highest price when offered at auction.

Please let us know what you decide to do. If you do submit the coin we would all love to learn the result. Good luck!

Thanks for the pics johnny54321. Your comments are spot on.

In your pics (reverse), the high points of the eagle's left wing, directly below it's eye, shows the rub that knocks these to AU every time. I can't see that in the OP images but it may be there also.

The caveats noted regarding authenticity, cleaning, altered surfaces and rubs seem to bite Indian gold regularly. As noted this is potentially a $6K to $8K coin and should find it's way to PCGS or NGC in the near future.

Good Luck!