What Are 2015 1/10th oz American Gold Eagle Narrow Reeds?

For the first time in U.S. Mint history, there has been 2 edge varieties struck for the 1/10th ounce American Gold Eagles. The two edge varieties are “Wide Reeds” and “Narrow Reeds.” The wide reed variety is the standard reeded edge pattern that has been on American Gold Eagles since 1986. The new variety that was introduced in 2015 is the “Narrow Reed” pattern. This new variety has smaller and finer reeds that are more tightly spaced than on the standard Wide Reed pattern.

This variety was first noted by graders for Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC). It is unknown as to why the U.S. Mint employed a narrow reeded pattern for the $5 2015 American Gold Eagles. The standard Wide Reed pattern has been seen as being the more common variety. But the overall mintages of the narrow variety is still not known.

If you want to know why a reeded edge even exists on a coin, be sure to check out our blog post on the topic: Why Some Coins Have Reeded Edges. Since their existence (1986) all American Silver Eagle and American Gold Eagle coins have been struck with reeded edges.