The San Francisco Mint was the only mint to strike half eagles in 1916, putting very strong collector demand on this low mintage issue for the purpose of both year and complete sets of the Indian half eagle series. While the mintage of 240,000 examples was an increase from the previous year's production figure of 164,000 coins, there would not be another half eagle produced after 1916 until the final issue in 1929, and few coins escaped circulation. A hoard of approximately 200 Mint State coins is known to have surfaced prior to 1988, though these were of limited quality and none were better than Choice. In true Gem, this 1916-S Indian $5 is a severe rarity, with PCGS displaying 17 grading events at MS-65 and above, and those being undoubtedly inflated by resubmissions.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the November 2016 Baltimore Auction, where it realized $82,250.