Quarter Dollar · 1916–1930

Standing Liberty Quarter

Liberty stands in a gateway between two pillars, holding a shield in one hand and an olive branch in the other, with the date on the pedestal below. An eagle flies right surrounded by stars, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA above and QUARTER DOLLAR below.

Designer

Hermon A. MacNeil

Diameter

24.3 mm

Edge

Reeded

Mint mark

Obverse (front), just left of the date

Composition

1916–1930: 90% silver, 10% copper · 6.25 g Silver

Did you know? The date on early Standing Liberty quarters was raised so high it wore off in just a few years of circulation — the Mint recessed the date starting in 1925, which is why so many dateless examples survive.

Beginner tip: Find the date on the pedestal first; if it is worn away the coin is worth its silver value, but a readable 1916, 1921, 1923-S, or 1927-S is serious money.

Key dates to look for

1916 Standing Liberty

$3,000+ even heavily worn

First year, only 52,000 made — the key to the whole series

1921 Standing Liberty

$150 – $300 in worn grades

Low mintage of 1.9 million

1923-S Standing Liberty

$250 – $500 in worn grades

Only 1.36 million made

1927-S Standing Liberty

$30 – $75 worn, $1,000+ lightly circulated

Just 396,000 made; cheap worn but very expensive in high grade

Valuable varieties & errors

1918/7-S Overdate

extreme

$1,500 – $25,000+ depending on wear

A die was hubbed first with a 1917 date and then with a 1918 date, leaving the 7 visible underneath the 8. It is one of the most famous overdates in all of US coinage.

How to check: With a loupe, study the last digit of the date on the pedestal. On the variety, the top of a 7 pokes out clearly from within the upper loop of the 8, looking like a cross-bar that does not belong. If the date is too worn to read the last digit clearly, the variety cannot be confirmed.

Error types found on this series

Doubled Die (Obverse)

The front design shows a second, shifted image because the die itself was made doubled.

Die Crack

A crack in the die fills with metal during the strike, leaving a thin raised line on the coin.

Clipped Planchet

A bite-shaped piece of the coin is missing because the blank was punched from an already-punched part of the metal strip.

Off-Center Strike

The blank wasn't centered when struck, so part of the design is missing and part of the coin is blank.

Lamination Error

A thin layer of the coin's metal peels, flakes, or cracks off because the alloy was poorly mixed.

Real photos where available (credits); others are illustrations.

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