When you think of coins from the early 20th century, do you think of Standing Liberty Quarters?
Standing Liberty Quarters come out at a time when the design of US Coins are changing, but people aren’t fond of them from the beginning. This is one of the reasons that they only last 15 years. Let’s find out more about Standing Liberty Quarters.
Brief History of Standing Liberty Quarters
The year is 1916 and the Barber Dimes, Quarters and Half Dollars are in their 25th year. By law, a coin’s design can change after 25 years without Congressional Approval. This is the perfect opportunity to make some changes. The results would be the Mercury Dime, Standing Liberty Quarter and Walking Liberty Half Dollar.
The US Mint brings in the Commission of Fine Arts to assist in deciding on the new designs for the dime, quarter and half dollar. The Mint’s Chief Engraver, Charles Barber, submits sketches from the Mint, but the Commission didn’t accept any of them. Instead, they get sculptors like Adolph Weimann and Herman MacNeil to submit sketches. They accept five sketches from Weinman for the dime, half dollar, and the reverse of the quarter. They also select MacNeil to design the obverse of the quarter. Eventually, they decide MacNeil will design both sides of the quarter.
MacNeil’s accepted obverse design shows the depiction of Liberty and her shield east toward Europe as they were in the middle of World War I. The United States wouldn’t enter the war until the following year. On her left hand, she is holding an olive branch. MacNeil’s designs depicted a peaceful image in a time of war. In fact, he also submits a sketch for the future Peace Dollar, which Anthony de Francisci designs The reverse design would display the American Eagle flying right.
With the delay of the Standing Liberty Quarters, 1916 Barber Quarters continue in circulation, and only 52,000 Standing Liberty Quarters come out that year. The quarters were finally released to the public in January 1917, including some 1916 issues.
Type 1 vs. Type 2
There was objection to the original design showing Liberty’s right breast exposed (Type 1 – 1916-1917). As a result, the breast would be covered with chain mail (Type 2 – 1917-1930). Another distinction between Type 1 and Type 2 are the stars on the reverse. The Type 1 quarters display 7 stars on the left side and 6 stars on the right. The Type 2 quarters have 5 stars on the left and right sides and 3 stars below the eagle.
There was another issue with the Standing Liberty Quarter. Like the Buffalo Nickel, the date would wear down fairly quickly. Starting in 1925, the year would be recessed on the quarter instead of raised which proved successful for the remaining years.
There were two things about the Standing Liberty Quarter that made it different from other coins:
While the mint mark on most regular issued coins was on the reverse before 1965, the Standing Liberty Quarter’s mint mark was on the obverse. Only the Lincoln Cent and the 1916 and 1917 Walking Liberty Half Dollar had their mint marks on the obverse as well.
Key Dates Of Standing Liberty Quarters
There were only 52,000 1916 Standing Liberty Quarters minted, making it the ultimate key date of the series. This is definitely rarer than more popular key date coins like the 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent and 1916-D Mercury Dime, and the value of it definitely shows. According to the 2019 Red Book, a 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter would be worth $3,000 in Good condition, $7,000 in Very Fine condition, and a low end Mint State condition would be worth $12,500.
Besides the 1916 Quarter, the 1927-D (976,000 minted) and 1927-S (396,000) would be easier key dates to obtain in circulation. In Good condition, they’re worth $15 and $35 respectively, and $75 and $325 in Very Fine condition. In Mint State 60 Condition, the 1927-D is reasonable at $225, but the 1927-S skyrockets to $4,000. The 1921 and 1923-S are also early key dates.
There are a few semi-key dates including the 1919-D and 1919-S.
Centennial Coins
In 2016, the Mint would release gold Mercury Dollars, Standing Liberty Quarters and Walking Liberty Half Dollars. They would mint up to 100,000 gold Standing Liberty Quarters and would use the Type 1 bare breast design. They would be minted at West Point.
Would you consider collecting Standing Liberty Quarters? I have two of them for my Type Set. Excluding the 1916, there would be 36 quarters to collect.