Bela Lyon Pratt was an incredibly talented sculptor and coin designer during the Renaissance of Art in America. Born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1867, he studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts under John Henry Niemeyer and John Ferguson Weir, the director of a school. In 1888, Pratt enrolled at the Art Students League of New York, where he studied with Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who suggested he study in Paris.

Much of Pratt's work can be admired across the country at many public institutions, and, of course, on Yale's old campus, the original sculpture of Nathan Hale 1913, copies of which stand outside the Chicago Tribune building, the Department of Justice Building in Washington D.C., and the Central Intelligence Building in Langley, Virginia.

Pratt broke into coin design with the 1901 Yale Bicentennial Medal, followed by a career of private commissions. He was later commissioned through President Theodore Roosevelt's program to revolutionize and beautify coinage. In 1908, he designed the quarter and half eagles, which remained in use until 1932 when the United States went off the gold standard. These two coins were marred by controversy since the incuse surface of the coins were believed to harbor germs.

The Numismatics Gallery at the Yale University Art Gallery is named after Bela Lyon Pratt, following endowment support from one of his descendants paying homage to this important and influential artist who made his mark in American Numismatic history.