USA 25 cents Seated Liberty Quarter 1859
USA, Philadelphia
Rarity
Common
Attributes of Coins
| Region | USA |
|---|---|
| Denomination | ¼ dollar |
| Krause number | KM# A64.2 |
| Mintage | 1,343,200 |
| Metal | Silver 0.900 |
| thickness | 1.5 mm |
| diameter | 24.3 mm |
| weight | 6.22 g |
Obverse:
Liberty
Star
Creators:
Christian Gobrecht
LIBERTY
Reverse:
Bird
Coat of arms
Flags
Creators:
Christian Gobrecht
QUAR.DOL.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Introduction of Coins
Not as common in Mint State as the P-Mint quarters of 1856-58, the 1859(P) issue remains available in modest numbers. Worn examples are far more plentiful. Mintages of silver coins at the Philadelphia Mint declined drastically from 1858 to 1859. This reflected the end of Mint Director Snowden's policy of issuing coins in exchange for silver deposits, a practice that ran contrary to the authorizing act of 1853 lowering the coins' weights. It also resulted from a glut of silver coins in commerce that was due to Snowden's action. As these coins had a legal tender limit of five dollars per transaction and could be refused by banks and businesses in amounts over that figure, holders of large numbers of fractional silver coins were compelled to sell them to bullion brokers at a discount. After bearing very large date numerals since 1847, the quarter dollar appeared this year with a much smaller date punch that would have been more appropriate to the dime or even half dime. This fashion lasted through 1863, after which time the dates became bigger again, but never as big as those of 1847-58. New master hubs were prepared for both sides of the quarter dollar during 1859's production. Though there were several subtle changes made to the obverse, the new hub is most easily distinguished by having six raised vertical lines above Liberty's banner, whereas the old hub had just four lines. The new reverse features a raised, convex eyeball to the eagle, while the old hub utilized just a semicircle to represent this detail. In addition, the arrowheads are more slender on the new hub. Dies from these four hubs were used in various combinations for 1859(P) quarters, with the rarest combination being Type 2 obverse and reverse. Collectors have yet to warm to these hub variations, and they don't seem to bring a premium.Read More
