In January of 2015, the media reported that two examples of the 2014 $5 Mint State Gold Eagles were discovered with narrow reeds on the edge of the coin. The narrow reed variety has closer, or tighter, spacing in the reeded edge of the coins. The $5 2014 Mint State Gold Eagles with Narrow Reeding have proved to be very scarce. As of 2022, only about 40 examples have been reported or graded between the different grading services. The discovery was credited to Darell Hicks from North Carolina.
After the discovery, the U.S. Mint acknowledged that the coins with the narrow reeds were struck using a different collar. The U.S. Mnit also indicated that thousands of examples with the narrow reed coins were produced.