Standing Liberty Quarter Dollars 1916-1930 Coin

The year was 1916. World I was wild in Europe, and the next climate in the United States was definitely guarded. Nine days before, President Theodore Roosevelt had started using classical propose motifs for our gold coins, and now, as the Coinage Act of 1890 had authorized, it time to change the trifling silver coins. U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Charles Barber's "uninspired" propose had patent the lodge, dime and half money for the preceding district century, and the civic was prime for something different. It was the wonderful opportunity to question a coin that, as a contemporary government describe put it, "was intended to exemplify in an assess the start pursuit of the country to it's own protection."

Thus, the Standing Liberty house was untaught. As was the lawsuit with the other new money, a competition was detained to cliquey the drawing. The comedian chosen was a prominent sculptor of the day, Hermon Atkins MacNeil, who was known for his works dealing with Indians and American memoirs, particularly on communal buildings and monuments.

MacNeil's facade projected skin a lasting, front spectacle of Liberty, a rendering reminiscent of obsolete Greek carving. Her left arm is upraised, bearing a buffer in a posture of protection. Being fraught from the protect by her right hand is the hangings, while the same hand offers up an emerald division. A sundry memo surely, but one that told our European neighbors we were ready for something, war or stillness. The inscription LIBERTY is at the top of the obverse, the time below, with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST closest the presume of Liberty.

The reversal of this typeface, as mandated by law, depicts an American eagle, here shown in rounded journey. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and motto E PLURIBUS UNUM are above, while the denomination QUARTER DOLLAR is below. The decisive effect seems to consider the induce of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who was the most famed sculptor of the time and, sometime former, a teacher for Mr. MacNeil.

The first coins came off the presses December 16, 1916, and the string nonstop through 1930, during which time over 226 million coins were struck at three different mints: Philadelphia (no mintmark), San Francisco (S), and Denver (D). The mintmark can be found just to the left of the meeting, while the designer's early M is to the right. No coins were struck in 1922, and no proofs were authorized, still several satin-finish proofs of 1916 and 1917 are reported to subsist.

There are two foremost subtypes of the Standing Liberty section, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 was issued for only two being, 1916-1917, as there was some trouble over Liberty's bared breast. In 1917, the fabricate was adapted, and the offending item was from then on covered with group post. Type 2, issued from 1917 through 1930, was substantially reworked, but the most evident changes were the repositioning of the stars on the setback along with the sequence dispatch on Miss Liberty mentioned past. Other, excluding evident changes included a smoothing of the fields and a pronounced curvature to the dies. Both Type 1 and Type 2 quarters were twisted by all three mints during 1917.

The obverse also underwent a minor change start with the penny of 1925, which some consider a subtype. The time was one of the elevated skin on previous coins so that it wore off too speedily. Circulating quarters of the 1917-24 stage are consequently scarce with legible dates. To remedy this maintain, the year section was recessed for all extend penny.

As one of our most lovely coin designs, the Standing Liberty billet is very current with collectors nowadays. The cycle is cool in its entirety by year and mint or as part of a 20th Century category set. Unlike many other string, it is still promising to perfect a done set in uncirculated prepare-a worthy treasure that very few people will have the pleasure of owning.

One of the key dates for the cycle is the problem square 1916. With a mintage of only 52,000 pieces, it has always been hunted by collectors. However, it does survive in superior figures than one would demand. As with any new goal, both collectors and the universal free saved plentiful examples. Original rolls, though pricey, were still presented as dead as the 1950s.

The rarest Standing Liberty housed is a Type 2 concern, the famous 1918/7-S overdate. Creating when two differently dated hubs were worn to prepare a solitary obverse die, the slip was not discovered by numismatists pending several days later, long after most of the coins had entered circulation. This coined is bloody in all grades, but especially so in the superior ranges of mint state. The mintage guessed for this interesting variety is nameless, but obviously miniscule. For days, one saw many otherwise full sets that lacked only the overdate. It's factually one of the most wanted aerial coins of the 20th Century.

Other excluding atypical but still challenging dates in high grade are 1920-S, 1926-S and the toughest court to find with an insincere struck precede on the Liberty presume, 1927-S. No coins in this string can actually be called common in gem proviso, but 1917 Type 1 and 1930 quarters grow in detailed-move gem uncirculated rider most frequently. Many other issues are periodically vacant in gem proviso, but not very regularly with a detailed move.

When grading this design, the points to inspect deftly on the obverse are Liberty's right knee and the pivot of the shield. On the transpose, the eagle's breast and left wing will first show erode. Coins graded "stuffed cranium" are much scarcer than those without this attribute copious struck, but this classification has more to do with the eminence of the effect than with grade. To modify for this designation, the coin must exhibit the following three skin: three leaves in Liberty's beard must be quite visible, the hairline along Liberty's crest must be complete and the ear indentation must be evident. Collectors will pay substantially more for these fully struck specimens.

Only in production for fifteen living, the Standing Liberty house was to endure an early demise. 1932 obvious the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth, and a new billet dough featuring his picture was introduced as a circulating commemorative. Though no longer made in silver for circulation, the Washington sector is still being minted today.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 24.3 millimeters Weight: 6.25 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .18084 degree unmixed silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, United States Dimes, Quarters and Half Dollars, Bowers and Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1986. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I./Doubleday, New York, 1988. Cline, J.H., Standing Liberty Quarters, 3rd Edition, J.H. Cline, Palm Harbor, FL, 1997. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.