1998 Washington Quarters: The Last With The Heraldic Eagle Reverse

PCGS - The release of the 50 State Quarters in 1999 meant big changes were coming to the Washington quarter, a coin that had seen relatively few major changes since the coin's debut in 1932. When the 50 States Commemorative Coin Program Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 1, 1997, it promised 50 new reverse designs that were to be unveiled on the quarter about every 10 weeks from 1999 through 2008.


Washington quarter, 1998-S 25C Silver, DCAM, PCGS PR70DCAM

The new coin long-running coin program also meant changes were coming to the obverse, which would be receiving some of the inscriptions formerly on the reverse to make more room on that side of the coin for the new designs. And that called for a redesigned bust of George Washington, designed in 1932 by John Flanagan and retooled by William Cousins in time for the first 50 State Quarters in 1999.

Bird Was the Word

While Washington remained on the 50 State Quarters and beyond into other quarter programs that followed, one element of the coin seen on the Washington quarter from 1932 through 1998 was not coming back: the Heraldic Eagle reverse. The Heraldic Eagle had one prior hiatus, and that was during the years 1975 and 1976 to accommodate for the Colonial Drummer Boy design by Jack L. Ahr, a commemorative motif seen on the Washington quarter reverse as part of the three-coin Bicentennial Commemorative program, which also celebrated the 200th birthday of the United States in 1976 with special designs for the half dollar and dollar coin.

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