Liberty Seated Quarter Dollars An Underrated Series and Denomination Gerry Fortin LSCC President 1850 PR 25c (Pittman) PCGS PR67 Gerry Fortin Rare Coins
Topics • An Underrated Series • Why Collect Seated Quarters? • Design Evolution and Major Subtypes • Availability in Choice Original Preservation State • The Unavailable Stopper Dates • Striking Characteristics • Typical Costs • Die Varieties References • Closing Summary Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 2
An Underrated Series • ~114 coins in Guide book set and 64 pieces in Date set – 7 major design sub-types – Typical collecting objective is dates and mintmarks; some will add major varieties – Struck at Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco and Carson City mints at various times. • Date rarities throughout the series – 25% of date mintages (all mints) less than 50,000! – 41% of date mintages under 100,000! – 54% of date mintages under 250,000 – 20% of date have mintage over 1,000,000 Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 3
Why Collect Seated Quarters? • Physical size (between dime & dollar) is sweet spot for tradeoff between size / price – Seated halves and dollars generally more expensive – Seated half dimes and dimes less visually appealing • Series lacks a comprehensive die variety reference – Briggs Encyclopedia published during early 1990s – LSCC Gobrecht Journal and E-Gobrecht variety research – An opportunity for the die variety specialist • Knowledge and experience are rewarded as a complicated series that many dealers don’t appreciate or understand. Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 4
Examples of Low Mintage Dates • Low mintage examples: – Carson City: 1870 ( 8,340 ), 1871 ( 10,890 ), 1873 ( 12,462 ) – San Francisco: 1860 ( 56,000 ), 1871 ( 30,900 ), 1872 ( 83,000 ) – New Orleans: 1849 ( 16,000 ), 1851 ( 88,000 ), 1852 ( 96,000 ) – Philadelphia: 1866 ( 16,800 ), 1886 ( 5,000 ), 1887 ( 10,000 ) • Mintage not necessarily indicative of rarity or availability – 1879-1889 Philadelphia dates all under 15,000 but more available in mint state than circulated grades – 1841 ( 120,000 ), 1842 ( 88,000 ) and 1851 ( 160,000 ) Philadelphia dates scarce in all grades and rare in AU or better Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 5
Liberty Seated Design Evolution Liberty Seated Quarters (1838 – 1891) No Drapery With Drapery Type I With Drapery Type II Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types No Motto, No Drapery (1838-1840) Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types and Availability Choice Original Condition No Motto, No Drapery (1838-1840) Certified Acceptance Corp. Population Report CAC Population Report are an excellent proxy for available coins in choice condition Reading is easy; focus on Totals column and then the distributions in Circulated grades and Mint State For No Drapery Design, the 1839 is the better date overall but 1840- O is difficult in mint state Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types With Drapery, No Motto (1838-1853) Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types and Availability Choice Original Condition With Drapery, No Motto (1838-1853) Certified Acceptance Corp. Population Report Early With Drapery dates that are challenging in choice condition. Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types With Arrows & Rays (1853) Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types With Arrows (1854-1855) Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types No Motto resumed (1856-1865) Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types and Availability Choice Original Condition No Motto resumed (1856-1865) Certified Acceptance Corp. Population Report Civil War Period Choice San Francisco mint state quarters are extremely rare! 10 examples known and most are dated 1862-S! Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types With Motto (1866-1891) Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types With Arrows (1873-1874) Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types and Availability Choice Original Condition With Motto (1866-1891) Certified Acceptance Corp. Population Report Reconstruction Period Choice San Francisco mint state quarters are extremely rare! 10 examples known and most are dated 1862-S! Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Major Design Sub-types and Availability Choice Original Condition Type 2 Buffalo Nickels as a Reference Certified Acceptance Corp. Population Report Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Plenty to Collect • Six major types • About 10 major varieties, some very interesting, generally date & mintmark anomalies • 1000+ (??) die marriages • Oddball: Cuds, die cracks, clashed dies, rotated dies, counterstamps, shipwrecked pieces, love tokens, contemporary counterfeits, planchet laminations, etc. Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Difficult Dates and Stoppers Stoppers: • 1870-CC (about 75 known) • 1871-CC (about 75 known) • 1873-CC (about 75 known) The BIG Stoppers: • 1873-CC NA (5 known) • 1842 Small Date proof • 1866 No Motto (Unique) Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Common vs. uncommon dates Philadelphia – most dates trade as “common”, better dates usually available at a price. Mid-1860s and 1880s dates struck in low quantities. There are no “sexy” issues in the Philadelphia series except the 1853 No Arrows and 1873 Closed 3. Carson City – 1870-CC to 1873-CC quite difficult, 1875-CC to 1878-CC considerably easier. San Francisco – 1858-S to 1861-S are condition rarities,1864-S is key date while 1871-S and 1872-S struck in low quantity. New Orleans – 1849-O, 1851-O, 1852-O are the keys. 1891-O also difficult. Several important varieties. Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Carson City issues • Considerably controversy in ranking the 1870-CC, 1871-CC, 1873-CC • 1870-CC has traditionally been priced higher, likely owing to the mintage figures: – 1870-CC 8,340 PCGS pop: 56 – 1871-CC 10,890 PCGS pop: 42 – 1873-CC 12,462 PCGS pop: 52 • Personal experience ranks the 1871-CC as the most difficult in terms of market availability • Choice examples of any are few and far between Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 22
1873-CC No Arrows • Only 5 known • 3 of these are Mint State Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 23
1866 No Motto Fantasy Piece • One quarter dollar was clandestinely struck with the 1866 obverse and the No Motto reverse – Never authorized, not a regular issue – Similar to 1913 Liberty Nickel • One No Motto half and two dollars also made • 3-coin set stolen from DuPont collection in 1967 • Recovered between 1999 and 2003 • Guide Book listed Photos courtesy ANR Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Striking Characteristics and Issues • Strike quality is an ongoing issue for Seated quarters • 1838, 1839 and 1840-O No Drapery quarters have weak head and upper star details as a rule. • 1847-O, 1850-O and 1852-O are notorious for weak obverse strikes. • 1866 and 1867 circulation strikes have weak LIBERTY in shield • In general, the quality of the Philadelphia pieces is higher than the branch mints • Briggs is the best guide to striking characteristics of each issue Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 25
Striking Issues Liberty Seated Quarters - Striking Issues No Drapery - Bold No Drapery - Typical With Drapery Type I - Bold With Drapery Type I - Typical Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Striking Issues Liberty Seated Quarters – Striking Issues With Drapery Type II - Bold With Drapery Type II - Typical Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Collecting Liberty Seated Quarters • Most U.S. collectors attempt this series by type – No Drapery/Drapery, No Arrows / With Arrows, No Motto / With Motto • Mintmark collection: P, O, S, CC • 64 piece date set, 1838 – 1891 • Date / mintmark set – Most popular approach among LSCC members – 106 coin set • Varieties – Some focus on varieties of specific dates – Date and mintmark sets challenging enough without adding varieties Liberty Seated Collectors Club
Typical Cost Required Collection G-F F-XF XF-AU MS63 Common date $50 $100 $150 $750 Complete year set only $15,000 $30,000 $60,000 - Date and Mintmark set (excluding mega- $100,000 $225,000 $350,000 $2,500,000 rarities) • Majority of cost of complete set will be in ~10 coins • First focus in set appraisal will be early Carson City • This is a long-term (5-10 year) endeavor! Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 29
References • Larry Briggs’ Seated Quarter Encyclopedia • Gobrecht Journal back issues • https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/ 2096 • Useful for in-depth analysis of particular dates • Auction catalogs • Eliasberg, Briggs, Richmond (S-mint essay), Gardner • Eliasberg in particular consolidated Gobrecht Journal content • Top 25 Die Varieties listed at www.SeatedDimeVarieties.com Liberty Seated Collectors Club Page 30
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