Standing Liberty Quarter (1916-1930)

The Standing Liberty Quarter was minted from 1916 to 1930.

Designer: Hermon A. MacNiel

Composition: .900 Silver, .100 Copper

History
The US Mint wanted to retire the Barber coinage, so they made a coin that   "was intended to typify in a measure the awakening interest of the country to it's own protection."

There was a competition to see whose design was better. Hermon MacNiel won with his Standing Liberty design.

The first coins were minted on December 16, 1916. There were over 266 million coins produced from then to 1930 (including all 3 Mints: Philadelphia, Denver, and San Fransisco. No coins were struck in 1922. In Mint records, there is no mention of proofs being made, but several 1916 and 1917 quarters are reported to be Satin-Finish Proofs.

There are two major die varieties, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 had Miss Liberty's breast showing, nicknamed "Bare Breast". This was only minted on coins from 1916 and 1917. Also, on the Reverse, there are no stars under the eagle. Type 2 was minted from 1917 to 1930. It changes both of these things. The breast is covered and there are three stars under the eagle. In 1925, the date was recessed because the date was wearing away too quickly.

The high points of the design are Liberty's right (viewer's left) knee and the center of the shield. These parts are crucial to look at while grading these pieces. The head has its own grading standard, as well. The rarest one is Full Head. The head part of Miss Liberty is always weakly struck.

The Standing Liberty Quarter has a marvelous design, thus making it popular in the coin collecting world. It is normally collected by date and mintmark, but you can also use it in your Type Set. This set is easily acquired in Uncirculated.

The key date of the series is the 1916 (Type 1 Only). Some other scarcer ones are 1918/7-S, 1921, and 1923-S.

Year-By-Year Guide
Type 1

1916-52,000

1917-8,470,000      1917-D-1,509,200       1917-S-1,952,000

Type 2

1917-13,880,000    1917-D-6,224,400       1917-S-5,552,000

1918-14,240,000    1918-D-7,380,000       1918-S-11,072,000

1919-11,324,000    1919-D-1,944,000       1919-S-1,836,000

1920-27,860,000    1920-D-3,586,400       1920-S-6,380,000

1921-1,916,000

1923-9,716,000      1923-S-1,360,000

1924-10,920,000    1924-D-3,112,000        1924-S-2,860,000

Recessed Date

1925-12,280,000

1926-11,316,000    1926-D-1,716,000        1926-S-2,700,000

1927-11,912,000    1927-D-976,000           1927-S-396,000

1928-6,336,000      1928-D-1,627,600        1928-S-2,644,000

1929-11,140,000    1929-D-1,358,000        1929-S-1,764,000

1930-5,632,000      1930-S-1,556,000

Resources
Coin Community Family (Information)

PCGS Photograde (Images)