Quarter dollar coins have existed in the United States since the 1790s, and were made primarily of silver until 1965. Collecting quarters is a lot of fun due to the large variety that exists and also because of the familiarity of the coins. Quarter coins are still important in everyday transactions and seeing the development of the coins over the decades is a fascinating hobby.
Collecting Quarters of Different Types
From 1796 to 1807, the first U.S. quarter coin was the draped bust quarter. It showed the figure of Liberty, who would feature on most U.S. coins during the nineteenth century. In 1815 a new design, known as the capped bust quarter, was issued.
In 1839, the long-lasting seated Liberty quarter was released to the public. Americans seemed to like the coin but after several decades started pushing for an update to the design. This prompted the redesign known as the Barber quarter (after designer Charles Barber). The Barber quarter coin would be used from 1892 until 1916.
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At the onset of World War I, a “standing Liberty” quarter design, with militaristic design elements among its appeals for peace, was issued. The standing Liberty quarter design had problems in its manufacturing process, and although these were occasionally corrected as necessary, the design was scrapped altogether in 1930. This made way for a new quarter honoring founding father George Washington. President Washington has appeared on the U.S. quarter coin ever since.
A Reduction in Silver: The 1960s
In 1965, the silver content of quarters was dropped in favor of a copper and nickel mixture, though the design wasn’t changed. The first major redesign of the Washington quarter coin came in 1999 with the introduction of the 50 state quarter project. Exciting for collectors and fans of the geographical United States, this series saw all fifty states plus Washington, D.C. and several overseas territories get their own reverse designs.
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In 2010 a new America the Beautiful series was begun, with five coins each year commemorating a different national park or national site on the reverse. Ol’ George Washington remained on the obverse.
Collecting Quarters Today
The first thing to do when collecting quarters from the United States is to ask yourself what is your goal? How will you structure your collection? There are any number of approaches and none is better than any other. Just go with what you like.
Some ideas for collecting quarters:
- Get one of each type. Look for a nice example, whose details can be seen, from each design from U.S. quarter history.
- Collect all of one type. Pick your favorite design and trey to get a complete set from each year and/or of each design.
- Get a coin from the first year of each design. Similar to the first option above, but focusing on the first extant year.
- Random “I know what I like” style. Just watch sales listings and jump on the quarters that appeal to you, whenever and wherever they’re from. Let your instinct be your guide, pedantic lists be damned!
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Of course, whatever method you adopt to collect quarter coins, you may be constrained by budget and what’s available at any given time from online vendors. For the former situation, you’ll have to save and budget carefully, maybe picking up other coins as trade bait.
As for the latter point, you’re in luck. Sellers offering quarter coins for collectors and buyers are plentiful and the selection in online sales marketplace changes often. Watch as new listings come and go, and be sure to move fast if you see something you like. Collecting quarters can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. There’s a huge world of United States quarter collectibles out there just waiting to be hoarded!
