Standing Liberty quarter popularity quietly growing
11/14/2005
By Mark Ferguson
COIN VALUES Market Analyst
The
Standing Liberty quarter dollar series has a special allure for collectors, many of whom also have other widely varied numismatic interests. The design of this coin shares the appeal of other classic 20th century coins that many collectors find attractive, such as the Indian Head 5-cent coin, the Winged Liberty Head dime and the
Walking Liberty half dollar.
Standing Liberty quarter dollars have long been quietly popular, but it may surprise you to learn that just over half of
Coin World readers collect this series. This compares with almost three-fourths of readers who collect the Washington and
State Quarter dollars. However, after getting a good foothold on the
Washington quarter dollars, collectors are becoming interested in what came before -
Standing Liberty quarters.
The first year of issue for
Standing Liberty quarter dollars was 1916, with a mere 52,000 coins minted. The first year design exhibited a bare breast. Another 12 million-plus quarter dollars of this original design were minted in 1917, before design changes that year added to the obverse a coat of chain mail over Liberty's previously exposed breast, and changed Liberty's head details. On the reverse, the eagle and stars were repositioned. More than 25 million of those revised design
Standing Liberty quarter dollars were also struck in 1917.
Over the years, the second head design often came out with flat surfaces, lacking the detail of a fully struck head. Coins with full heads are worth substantial premiums, and many issues are extremely rare with full head details, such as the 1918/7-S, 1919-D, 1919-S, 1920-S, 1926-D, 1926-S and 1927-S. Full heads, for the redesigned (Mailed Breast) issue, should exhibit three distinct leaves on the side of Liberty's hair, a continuous brow line along Liberty's face and a clear ear hole. If these three details are missing or are not distinct, the coin does not qualify as a full head.
Most
Standing Liberty quarter dollars also exhibit other softly struck areas - among them, several rivets on the shield, weak dates and softness to the eagle's leading wing edge. Finding a coin that has all its details fully struck up, including Liberty's toes, is quite rare and worth a very strong price premium.
On high-grade coins, watch for rub or friction on Liberty's knee, the highest point and the first to wear, which should reduce a coin's grade to About Uncirculated.
Additionally, mintage totals have virtually no correlation in determining which issues are rare or common with full head details. Grading service population reports are indicative of full head scarcity, but keep in mind that because of resubmissions many of the totals are undoubtedly skewed toward higher totals than actually exist.
One dealer, J.H. Cline of Palm Harbor, Fla., began collecting
Standing Liberty quarter dollars in the 1950s. He has since been making a good living specializing in this series, and reports that, "
Standing Liberty quarters are absolutely a collector-driven market. Many are undervalued coins, even at today's higher prices." And that's what we're experiencing in this series - higher values at all grade levels.
Posted 11/01/2005 1:44 pm
