USA 25 cents Seated Liberty Quarter 1878
USA, Philadelphia
Rareza
Común
Atributos de las Monedas
| Region | USA |
|---|---|
| Denomination | ¼ dollar |
| Krause number | KM# A98 |
| Mintage | 2,260,000 |
| Metal | Silver 0.900 |
| thickness | 1.75 mm |
| diameter | 24.3 mm |
| weight | 6.25 g |
Anverso:
Liberty
Star
Creators:
Christian Gobrecht
LIBERTY
Reverso:
Coat of arms
Creators:
Christian Gobrecht
QUAR.DOL.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Introducción de monedas
The mintage of quarter dollars fell drastically during 1878 over that of the previous two years. It has become a numismatic myth perpetuated by countless writers that the mints were too busy coining Morgan Dollars to strike many fractional silver coins during 1878-90, but this is completely wrong. The drastic cutback in coining was due to a law passed July 22, 1876 limiting the total value of fractional silver and fractional notes in circulation to 50 million dollars. The large mintages of 1876-77 went a long way toward retiring the notes and replacing them with coin, but another event that occurred around the same time caused the legal limit to be achieved sooner than anticipated. With the price of silver falling during the 1870s, not only did federal paper currency achieve value parity with silver coins, but millions of silver pieces that had disappeared after 1861 rapidly returned to domestic circulation starting in the fall of 1876. Some of these coins had been hoarded, but the vast majority had been circulating in Canada and Latin America, where a lack of local coinage had made them welcome. Now that their face value in the USA exceeding their bullion value, they returned home and quickly became a nuisance in commerce. Fractional silver had a legal tender limit of five dollars in any one transaction and could be refused above that amount. These older coins, now well worn, were neither needed nor wanted by banks and often had to be sold at bullion value to brokers. Their numbers, combined with the huge new coinages of 1876-77, also exceeded the $50 million limit imposed by the 1876 legislation, and the Treasury actually began withdrawing coins. Naturally, this brought production of new pieces to a near standstill that, for the quarter dollar, lasted through 1890. 1878(P) quarters are noticeably scarcer in circulated grades than those of the preceding two years. Mint State pieces are also in limited supply. Larry Briggs wrote that they were "probably melted to make the first year silver dollar." This is a repetition of the old myth about the mint halting fractional silver production to make silver dollars. It is possible that some 1878(P) were withheld from release and destroyed, but the silver for dollars was purchased under an entirely separate program.Leer más
