By Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker for CoinWeek Notes …..
The Washington Quarter, first issued in 1932, was initially conceived as a circulating coin to honor the nation’s first president on the 2 hundredth Anniversary of his start. Its design was the work of American sculptor John Flanagan, who modeled his portrait after French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon’s bust. Houdon in flip primarily based his work on a life masks of George Washington taken on the Founding Father’s Virginia plantation property, Mount Vernon. As we speak, Houdon’s sculpture is on show on the Mount Vernon Guests Middle.
The quarter denomination, which sputtered upon its preliminary launch, had seen its usefulness develop within the early-to-mid twentieth century. Though hampered by the Nice Melancholy and World Conflict II, demand for the Washington Quarter was larger than demand for the 2 previous sorts: the Barber Quarter of 1892-1916 and the Standing Liberty sort of 1916-1930. Mintages elevated steadily all through the Nineteen Thirties and ’40s, solely to take off throughout the ’50s and early ’60s. Within the postwar interval, Individuals discovered financial prosperity, the United States being the one main energy not ravaged by the conflict.
As enterprise was good for American corporations, it was additionally good for the United States Mint, and by the late Nineteen Fifties and early ’60s, demand for cash started to exceed the Mint’s capability to provide. Driving this largely was the explosive progress of the merchandising machine business. With merchandising machines, Individuals might buy newspapers, espresso, sandwiches, telephone calls, cigarettes, and even alcohol, amongst different issues. All of those machines took cash, and it might be days or even weeks earlier than operators redeemed a given merchandising unit’s take. The impact is similar when folks stash their spare change in coin jars.
The rise in demand and a worldwide motion in opposition to utilizing silver in circulating cash led the Mint to think about different choices for the dime, quarter, and half greenback. The Battelle Memorial Institute, commissioned by the Treasury Division to search for an appropriate various, recommended a cupronickel-clad composition, which was not then sometimes used to strike cash. After a lot experimentation with the brand new base-metal coin composition, the Coinage Act of 1965 was enacted on July 23. The brand new legislation eliminated the silver content material from the dime and quarter and approved a lowered fineness for the Kennedy Half Greenback.
The Mint’s manufacturing of the clad Washington Quarter started on August 23, 1965, with the primary cash coming into circulation in November. Underneath the provisions of the brand new legislation, the Mint was approved to provide silver and clad cash concurrently, with the silver points bearing the 1964 date and the clad points being dated 1965 or later. When the Mint had struck sufficient clad cash to satisfy demand, manufacturing of the silver model was concluded.
Glad that it might produce cash at a amount vital to satisfy fashionable demand, the Mint introduced in 1967 that it could resume the usage of mintmarks in 1968 and convey again the favored annual Proof and Uncirculated Coin Units.
Whereas the Johnson Administration proclaimed that silver and clad cash would flow into side-by-side for years, the reality was that throughout the first 5 years of the clad Washington Quarter’s launch, the variety of circulating silver quarters rapidly fell. Contributing tremendously to this effort was the Treasury Division, which arrange a course of to sift by its inventory to take away silver cash. On a regular basis Individuals additionally contributed by plucking out the more and more small variety of silver dimes, quarters, and half {dollars} they acquired in change. By the late Nineteen Seventies, the earliest-dated quarter generally present in circulation was the 1965.
The usage of Flanagan’s Heraldic Eagle reverse was briefly suspended in 1975 and ’76 because the Mint issued particular quarters, half {dollars}, and greenback cash to mark the Nationwide Bicentennial Celebration. For the Bicentennial Quarter, the obverse featured a twin date of 1776-1976, whereas the reverse featured Jack Ahr’s “Drummer Boy” motif. Greater than a billion Bicentennial Quarters had been issued within the clad format. This well-received design has turn into a “traditional” of the post-war interval.
The Heraldic Eagle returned in 1977, and its use continued by 1998. After that, the Flanagan Washington Quarter design was considerably altered to accommodate the 50 State Quarters Program of 1999-2008, the Washington, D.C. and American Territories Quarters of 2009, and the America the Lovely Quarters Program of 2010-2021. The “authentic” Flanagan obverse returned for its last bow for the 2021 Washington Crossing the Delaware Quarter one-year sort. In 2022, the Mint adopted the Laura Gardin Fraser Washington Portrait for the American Girls Quarters collection, which concludes on the finish of 2025.
The Clad Washington Quarter’s Licensed Market
As a typical coin, clad Washington Quarters struck from 1965 onward might be present in circulation with some effort. Past the chase of discovering cash from every date or mintmark, worn Washington Quarters carry no numismatic premium. As a substitute, collectors search cash in uncirculated situation. Aside from cash issued from 1965-67 and 1982-83, uncirculated Washington Quarters might be affordably sourced from the US Mint’s annual Uncirculated Coin Units, which frequently might be bought for lower than their preliminary problem worth.
Aside from gathering cash this fashion, some collectors search high-grade clad Washington Quarters licensed by CAC, NGC, and PCGS. To qualify as a excessive grade for the collection, the coin should earn both MS67 or MS68. Premium Gem MS67 cash are unusual, and MS68 cash from most dates are usually scarce, with some dates not having examples graded at this stage.
Paying big premiums for conditionally uncommon fashionable cash carries some extent of danger, as the costs traditionally lower when further cash are added to the census. Within the case of the clad Washington Quarter, it isn’t the coin’s shortage that suppresses grading submissions however the lack of worth for all however the most interesting examples. Understanding this, some specialists actively submit high-end fashionable cash in quantity to capitalize on the arbitrage.
In-Depth Clad Washington Quarter Date Evaluation by CoinWeek Notes
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Design
Obverse:
On the obverse, a left-facing portrait of Washington dominates the floor. Inside a flat rim is the phrase LIBERTY on the high, and the date on the backside. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST is positioned to the decrease left of Washington, the phrases organized in two strains. Designer John Flanagan’s initials JF are on the appropriate facet of the bottom of Washington’s neck.
Reverse:
On the reverse, a centered eagle with outstretched wings rests on a tightly certain bundle of arrows. The eagle’s wings curve on the outer edges to kind an arc concentric with the raised rim. Between the wings and the rim, round roughly the highest half of the coin, is the legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and beneath that textual content however above the eagle’s head is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM, additionally in two strains. The denomination QUARTER DOLLAR follows the rim on the backside, and two quick olive branches curve above the denomination however beneath the eagle, leaves partially overlapping different design components. Silver Washington quarters had been minted in Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco; D and S mintmarks are situated beneath the crossed ends of the olive branches, above the “ER” in QUARTER.
Edge:
The sting of the Washington Quarter is reeded.
Coin Specs
| Washington Quarter, Clad | |
| Years of Challenge: | 1965-98 |
| Mintage (Circulation): | Excessive: 1,819,717,540 (1965); Low: 101,534,000 (1968-D) |
| Mintage (Proof): | Excessive: 4,227,728 (1987-S); Low: 1,750,244 (1996-S) |
| Alloy: | Outer layers of .750 copper, .250 nickel bonded to pure copper core |
| Weight: | 6.25 |
| Diameter: | 24.30 mm |
| Edge: | Plain |
| OBV Designer: | John Flanagan |
| REV Designer: | John Flanagan |
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Further References
Bowers, Q. David. The Consultants Information to Amassing and Investing in Uncommon Cash. Whitman Publishing.
–. A Information E book of United States Washington and State Quarters. Whitman Publishing.
–. A Information E book of United States Sort Cash. Whitman Publishing.
Guth, Ron, and Jeff Garrett. United States Coinage: A Research by Sort. Whitman Publishing.
Taxay, Don. The U.S. Mint and Coinage. Arco Publishing.
Yeoman, R.S., and Jeff Garrett (editor). The Official Pink E book: A Information E book of United States Cash. Whitman Publishing.
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