The Indian Half Eagle ($5 gold piece) was struck from 1908 through 1916 and again in 1929.  The Indian series was designed by Bella Lyon Pratt,  a well known Boston sculptor.

 

Toward the end of 1908, the Pratt design was adopted for the $2.50 and $5 gold coins.  Public criticism soon followed their introduction.  People complained that the incused design was a receptacle for dirt and would spread disease, while bank tellers complained the coins would not stack properly.  It was also noticed that an equal pile of the new Indian type and the old Liberty type gold coins were not of uniform height and that the tellers would have to sort the coins by design.

 

Coinage of the Half Eagle was divided into two spans.  The first last from 1908-1916 while the second span was only during 1929.  Of the 662,000 coins minted in that year, few circulated while the rest were assumed melted.