Silver USA Quarter coin with the Washington profile - one of the most famous silver investment coins worldwide
The Washington Quarter was introduced in 1932 to mark George Washington’s 200th birthday. It replaced the “Standing Liberty Quarter” and became the 2nd circulating coin depicting the image of an actual person. It was initially issued as a circulating commemorative coin but was made a regular issue coin in 1934. In 1975 and 1976, the standard eagle design on the reverse was temporarily replaced to honour the Nation’s Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence. The reverse of the Bicentennial Quarter shows a colonial drummer and a victory torch circled by 13 stars, representing the original thirteen colonies that were referenced in the Declaration of Independence. Interestingly, it is impossible to tell a quarter minted in 1975 from one minted in 1976 – as only Bicentennial Quarters were made for those two years, and all are marked with the same 200-year date range (1776–1976).
The obverse of the Quarter Washington type silver coin depicts a bust of the first President of the USA George Washington in profile, facing left. It was designed by John Flanagan and recreates the 1786 bust sculpted by Jean-Antoine Houdon at Mount Vernon.
The inscriptions are "LIBERTY" (at the top) and "IN GOD WE TRUST" (to the left of Washington's head). The minting year and the sculptor’s initials “JF” can be found below Washington's neck.
Since 1968, the mintmark appears just above and to the right of the minting year below the wreath ('D' for Denver, 'S' for San Francisco, and either 'P' or none for Philadelphia). Prior to 1968, the mintmark appeared below the eagle's talons and after 1980 a mint mark for Philadelphia (P) issues was added (prior to this Philadelphia issues carried no mint marks). From 1965 to 1967, the mint issued quarters with no mint marks making it impossible to determine where a specific coin was minted. At that time, there was a coin shortage and the mint believed the shortage was created by coin collectors. To eliminate what the Mint believed to be the issue, mint marks were no longer printed onto the coins to deter collectors from hoarding coins.
The mint even eliminated Uncirculated and Proof sets for these years but later issued a special mint set after complaints.
The reality was that with rising silver prices and a planned composition change from silver to copper/nickel it was apparent to the general public that older silver coins were worth more from a melt perspective than the new copper/clad so the general public began hoarding silver issues more for melt value and less for collecting value. As circulating copper/nickel coins drastically increased, the mint would eventually understand this and returned mint marks beginning in 1968.
The Washington Quarter initially had a composition of 90% silver & 10% copper and beginning in 1965 the composition was changed to 75% copper and 25% nickel due to the rising cost of silver The switch from silver to copper-nickel clad (meaning “layered” because of their copper core and copper-nickel outer covering) occurred because the federal government was losing money since the silver value of U.S. coins had exceeded their face value and were being melted down by individuals for profit. The U.S. Mint began producing silver quarters again in 1992 for inclusion in the annual Silver Proof "Special Mint Sets" minted at the San Francisco mint in 1965, 1966, and 1967 (Deep Cameo versions of these coins are highly valued because of their rarity).
The reverse of the Washington Quarter was in circulation from 1932–to 1974. It features a spread-winged bald heraldic eagle perched on a bundle of arrows with olive branches beneath, also a design by John Flanagan, encircled by “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA”. It also contains the inscriptions: "In God We Trust" and "E Pluribus Unum" (Latin for "Out of many, one"), as well as the denomination "QUARTER DOLLAR".
The first quarters, made in 1796, featured a depiction of Lady Liberty on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse. There was no denomination on the coin. In fact, there was no value marked on quarters until 1804, when "25c" was added to the reverse. In 1838, "QUAR. DOL." was used, and then changed to “quarter dollar” in 1892, and the denomination was consistently located on the reverse of the coin. It wasn't until the first of the new quarters were made in 1999 that "quarter dollar" was moved to the front.
The non-clad silver Quarter, composed of 90% silver and 10% copper, weighs 6.25 grams and has a total silver weight of 0.1808479 troy ounce of pure silver. It has a diameter of 24.26 mm and a thickness of 1.75 mm. The edge of the coin is corrugated.
Early quarters (before 1828) were slightly larger in diameter and thinner than the current coin.