1893 Isabella Quarter

Cant wait till I get the point in my collection that I feel this is the next piece to obtain. Very cool, very unique!

Another lovely coin ...... I like it when you roll these out one at a time. Excellent photography as well ..... allows us some confidence in making statements about your collection.

I see you have taken my suggestion and are rolling through the Top-12 list. Excellent! We're thrilled to see these lovely coins and willing to share whatever we can about their history.

Anyways ...... this is still the only US Commemorative Quarter (I don't count the Bicentennial and State Quarters as 'commemorative' issues).

This coin was produced at the insistence of Susan B Anthony (yes, the same women's suffrage advocate who eventually got her own dollar) ...... and was intended to help fund the Board of Lady Managers efforts at the World's Colombian Exposition.

Obverse shows a fanciful image of the young Queen Isabella of Spain (the sponsor of Columbus voyage to the New World) and the reverse shows an image of a lady wool spinner (thought to be a major women's industry at the time).

Minted in Philadelphia with an original mintage of 40,023 coins. Sales were less than expected at the Exposition for the asking price of $1 could also purchase a Colombian Half Dollar which was presumably seen as a better deal.

At the end of the day over 15,000 remained unsold and were returned for melting. Total net distribution was 24,214 coins for us to enjoy today.

Fun fact is that both this coin and the 1892/1893 Colombian Half Dollar are not technically Commemorative coins ...... they were officially designated as "Souvenir" coins ...... today we lump them in with the rest of the wonderful 144 coin US Classic Silver Commemorative series and few folks care that their Isabella is a 'souvenir'.

The coin you show here has seen some use. High points of the design are the strand of wool crossing the spinners thigh on the reverse, and on the obverse Isabella's cheek and the central jewel in her crown.

You can see that the reverse strand of wool has worn away, the central jewel is worn and Isabella check shows wear.

I would grade this in the XF range ..... call it XF-45 as a guess.

Also interesting to note that this is a late die state coin. Check out the die crack on the reverse starting at 9:00 and extending through the "BO" of "BOARD". Also something funky going on with the "DY" of "LADY" ..... although that could be PMD.

What is of particular interest to me New Mismatist is that this coin is not often seen in circulated condition. This coin was handled with care at the mint, and most examples seen today are in MS condition.

I'm wondering how a circulated example showed up in your Grandmother's possession all those years ago?

For a fun example of a truly circulated example ..... see my recent post here:

https://goccf.com/t/66735

Thanks for sharing the photos of these great coins ...... keep them coming I say.

David

There was one other commem quarter...
The 1932 Washington. It was to commem his 200th birthday.
IIRC, it wasn't necessarily intended to continue as the
permanent quarter design. It just never was discontinued.