Most Valuable Quarters Worth Money

The quarter has existed, in one form or another, in the United States since 1796. It has been produced in common numbers since 1831.

Because quarters have been available for so many years and have undergone so many design changes, several examples of them are now collectible and worth money. In some cases, numismatists look for quarters produced with notable errors. In others, the series of quarters are struck properly but were only produced in small numbers making the coins rare.

The bottom line is that it may pay to take a closer look at the quarters in your pocket. Let’s discuss what makes a quarter valuable, rare, and worth more than face value.

Which Quarters Are Worth Money?

Let’s get down to brass tacks, though, about rare and valuable quarters. The following quarters are the ten most valuable 25-cent pieces ever produced, according to the NGC:

1. 1823/2 Capped Bust – An early quarter, this version also contains a notable overdate error and is rarer than even the 1796 quarters, which explains why you cannot find them for less than $37,500, and often for much more than $250,000.
2. 1796 Draped Bust – The first quarter ever produced is worth no less than $11,500, regardless of its condition, and highly-graded versions can sell for more than $100,000.
3. 1901 S Barber – Though not the first Barber quarter by any means, it was the rarest produced of the bunch and is available, even in poor condition, for no less than $3,750.
4. 1804 Draped Bust – The second issue of this early quarter is also quite valuable, with any specimen drawing at least $3,250, and several going for more than $100,000.
5. 1872 CC Seated Liberty – In this case, the fact that it was produced by the little-used Carson City Mint is what drives its value to be a minimum of $1,750, and why good specimens often command tens of thousands.
6. 1918/7 S Standing Liberty – Though the 1916 Standing Liberty is the most-valuable regular issue of this series of coins, this overdate error moves ahead and costs at least $1,250 to purchase.
7. 1849 O Seated Liberty – This coin has no official record of its mintage in New Orleans, and is exceedingly rare – to the tune of $1,150 as a basement-level price.
8. 1860 S Seated Liberty – As usual, a San Francisco-minted coin was produced on a small scale and has become valuable. These pieces draw at least $800, even if they are significantly worn down.
9. 1842 O Small Date Seated Liberty – Big prices come in small packages, and these coins – stamped with tiny date indicators – will set collectors back at least $500, and can go for more than $40,000.
10. 1927 S Standing Liberty – The most accessible coin on this list is valuable because of its San Francisco parentage, and while worn versions will only require $35 to buy, you can find some versions worth as much as $4,600.

Most Valuable Regular Issue Quarters

Quarters that predate 1932 – the first year of production for the Washington Quarters – have a better chance of being worth more than their face values would indicate. In fact, if you find a quarter that was minted before 1916, you can readily assume that it is worth more than 25 cents.

However, it gets more interesting once we start looking at the two most recent vintages of quarters – the aforementioned Washington Quarters, and their predecessors, the Standing Liberty Quarters.

Standing Liberty Quarter Values

Image Courtesy of David Lawrence Rare Coins

Standing Liberty quarters were minted from 1916 to 1930. They replaced the Barber quarter as the 25-cent piece in the United States.

Standing Liberties were produced using an alloy of silver and copper. Specifically, they were struck in 90% silver and 10% copper. They are so named because of the image of the goddess of Liberty standing firm on their obverse. Their reverses bore an eagle, which continued (albeit in a different design) to be the symbol on the reverse of quarters until 1999.

All Standing Liberties are valuable pieces of American history and are quite valid pieces to keep as collectors’ items. Because of production issues in their earlier mintings, many of the pre-1924 coins had their dates worn off, so any quarters in these vintages with their dates visible are quarters to keep.

Standing Liberties were primarily cast in Philadelphia. There were a few produced by the Mints in Denver and San Francisco, though, and these are necessarily more valuable members of this type of coin.

However, no Standing Liberty Quarters are more valuable than the 1916 series. The first issue of these quarters featured the goddess of Liberty with one of her breasts exposed.

For whatever reason, sculptor Herman Atkins MacNeil decided to add a chainmail vest to the subsequent mintings of the coin, so this more revealing version of the Standing Liberty would absolutely be a cornerstone of a collection. There are even a rare few stamped with this design in the 1917 series, as they came into existence before MacNeil’s design took effect.

Washington Quarter Values

Not all Washington Quarters are created equally, both literally and figuratively. Some of them are much more valuable simply based upon their metal content. Washington Quarters produced during their first 32 years of service – between 1932 and 1964 – used the same 90/10 silver and copper alloy that the Standing Liberties used. Needless to say, these quarters are more immediately valuable than later versions.

After 1964, all quarters began to be minted using an alloy known as cupronickel – which is a common alloy for modern American coins. Cupronickel, as its name implies, is a combination of copper and nickel in a 3:1 ratio, and Washington Quarters bear two layers of it draped over a core of solid copper.

All of the most valuable Washington Quarters are the silver-heavy variety. None of them have any particular design quirks, but there are some known pieces with errors. Some of them are double-die errors, where two coins are struck on the same metal disk. Others have value because they were produced in a less-common Mint.

The bottom line is that you need to keep any quarters you find that have dates prior to 1964. All of them are worth a bit more than 25 cents, and some of them are worth many multiples of their face value. The only post-1964 exceptions were a few 1965 quarters, which were mistakenly struck on silver, rather than cupronickel, planchets.

Most Valuable Coins in Circulation

In more recent years, the Mint has sought to vary the reverse of Washington Quarters in meaningful ways.

The first of these alterations came in 1976. The Mint issued quarters to commemorate the country’s bicentennial with the image of a colonial drummer and torch. Although there are a few uncirculated versions of these coins that are quite valuable, most bicentennial quarters are worth only their face value.

Similarly, the Mint introduced new quarters in 1999 as part of its 50 State Quarters Program. In the ten years that followed, the Mint stamped reverses with emblems of each of the 50 states. Aside from error coins or uncirculated proofs, none of these quarters are worth more than $0.25.

More recent coin series in the US have included America the Beautiful Quarters, which feature national parks, and the American Women Quarters, which feature women who have played significant roles in the history of the US.

What Makes a Quarter Valuable?

Let’s start by talking about what makes a quarter valuable.

• Age: Quarters made prior to 1930 are far more likely to exceed their face values due to the fact that they are pieces of American history. Some of them are coincident with major events in the US – the Civil War, the era of Thomas Jefferson, etc – and may have been traded against those historical backdrops.
• Rarity: Another factor that affects the value of one quarter over another is the rarity of the particular coin itself. There is no standard number of quarters produced in any given year.. Needless to say, the fewer quarters made, the more valuable each one of them becomes as a collectors’ item.
• Condition: Of course, there’s also a big difference in value when it comes to the condition of your collectible quarters themselves. A quarter worn down by decades of use and lack of care – like most coins – is not worth as much as a quarter that never circulated and has been encased in plastic or glass its entire life.
• Grading: In order to classify the quality of coins – including quarters – more efficiently, most coin dealers use a standardized system devised by William Sheldon in the 1940s. Sheldon’s system assigned a numeric grade from 1 to 70, with 70 being the highest, to relate quickly a coin’s quality.
• Errors:  Some quarters stamped and produced by the US Mint contain errors. If quarters are struck off-center, with double denominations, or with overlapping strikes, they are immediately a rarity, and thus, more valuable.

In some cases, the Mint makes different variants of the same series of quarters in order to create commemorative versions of coins. Based upon how many of these variants are produced, they can be quite valuable – either individually or as part of a complete set.

How to Identify Valuable and Rare Quarters

The first thing to examine is the date on the quarter. As we’ve discussed, valuable quarters are much harder to find after 1964 due to their metal composition and their historicity. So, if you find you have a quarter before 1964, you’re on the right track for discovering a potential rare and valuable coin.

Another element to check is the coin’s mint mark. Each of the mints around the country strikes its coins with a single letter – the first letter of the city’s name. The vast majority of coins, especially in modern times, are created in either Philadelphia or Denver. Thus, most quarters are going to have a P or D stamped on them.

However, there are two other mints around the country at San Francisco and West Point. Though they do produce many coins, their production outputs do not match those in Philly and Denver. So, you should pay close attention to any quarters marked with an S or W.

Historically, there have been other mint locations that have stamped their marks on American coins, and here’s where the real value may lie. Here are some of the other locations:

• Charlotte (C)
• Carson City (CC)
• Dahlonega (D)
• New Orleans (O)

If you find these mint marks, hold onto that quarter. The only confusion might be between the single D marks from both Denver and Dahlonega. The trick is that no Dahlonega coin exists except between 1838 and 1861 – so if the date is otherwise, then it’s a Denver production.

Another thing to check is whether your quarter looks – off, somehow. In other words, errors on your quarters can mean that you’ve got some value on your hands.

However, it’s important that you use proper lighting and magnification when you’re looking for these errors. Discolorations or corrosion are not the types of errors that mean value. Instead, you need to look for the types of errors we discussed above – errors created in the minting process, not after the coins have circulated.

If you suspect that you have a valuable quarter, there are plenty of price guides and online resources to help you understand what kind of value you can get. One of the best resources for a price guide is the one published by the NGC.

If your quarter(s) end up being some of the known rare ones – or even unknown ones – reach out to us here at JM Bullion. We’d love to talk about what you’ve got and what you might want to do with it.

Most Common Errors Seen in Quarters

As mentioned above, one of the most fruitful ways to find valuable quarters is through the errors that occur in the minting procedure. There are a multitude of ways a coin can be off, but here are the most common error types:

• Off-center strikes – Although it seems hard to believe an automated process could miss the mark, some coins are struck off-center as their planchets pass the presses.
• Double die errors – The error in this case is not that the stamp is off-center, but that it occurs twice on the same coin and creates a strange, overlapping image.
• Wrong planchet errors – As described with the 1965 Washington Quarters, coins are sometimes struck on planchets containing the incorrect alloy.
• Overdate errors – Because the dies used to stamp coins are sometimes reused and repurposed, they occasionally stamp multiple dates onto the same space on the coins, creating impossible mint year attributions.

Learn more:

• List of 2023 quarter errors
• List of 2024 quarter errors
• Most valuable dimes worth money

How to Start Collecting Valuable Coins

You could conceivably make a valuable quarter collection an investing goal.

The first thing to do is to build a strategy. It’s best to have a plan for what types of quarters you want to collect, how you’re going to find them, and how much you’re prepared to invest in the pursuit. So, here’s what to do:

• Educate yourself: Make sure that you have a firm understanding of both the types of valuable quarters that you’ll find and the market/availability for them.
• Become a grade expert: Dovetailing with the need to educate yourself is the need for you to understand how to grade the coins you encounter. In other words, you need to be able to have a rough (or better) understanding of the quality of coin you have.
• Network: Getting in touch with more experienced collectors and dealers is critical because, in addition to the educational value, they can point you in the direction of good deals, reputable dealers, and hidden gems to keep in mind as you search. You should also establish a relationship with a good dealer in your area who will shoot you straight.
• Set aside a budget: With any investment, there is always the possibility for loss. The money for any type of investment should never be money you need for bills, necessities, or even small luxuries reserved for family.
• Figure out your storage: Set aside an album or case that will keep them cool and dry. Be sure not to use holders that have PVC, as they can leave a film on the coins. Ideally, you’ll wear gloves when you handle your pieces, too, as the oils and dirt from your fingers can degrade the coins over time.
• Decide your first move: You have several ways to start collecting. It’s possible to start your quarter collection simply by examining the change you acquire as you make purchases. For a more direct route, though, you’ll have to search for valuable quarters through coin dealers, who likely know what they have and how much to charge you.
• Start: Don’t fall victim to paralysis by analysis. The best way to start doing something is to start doing it. It’s okay if you don’t do it perfectly at first – in fact, you should expect not to do it perfectly.

Modern Quarters Worth Keeping

Despite the fact that the vast majority of quarters worth keeping are older ones, there are some newer quarters – by that, we mean the current Washington Quarters – that are worth some additional money.

The first type of modern quarters that are reliably valuable beyond their face value are special issue state quarters that got minted in 2020. 2020 marked the second-to-last year of the issue of quarters with commemorative images of each state, but also marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.

So, the Mint issued quarters with a privy mark displaying the WWII Memorial pool and an inscribed 75. These were minted at the West Point Mint, so they also have the somewhat rare W identifier.

Related to these special quarters are the 2020 America the Beautiful state quarters. If you can compile a collection of all 50 quarters in rare-or-better condition, you might have some value on your hands. In particular, if you can find “gem”-quality versions of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, or Connecticut, they may go for a significant markup.

Finally, there are a few error coins floating around in the mix in the state quarters collection. In particular, Wisconsin Quarters sometimes came stamped with an extra leaf, and have become quite collectible. So, check your recent quarters – look for anything that seems out of place.

The Future of Quarter Collecting

Despite rising inflation, the quarter is not going out of style. In fact, it is probably the most likely coin to persevere in our society, even with the rise of digital currencies or cryptocurrencies.

Keep an eye out for any changes to the design or composition of new quarters, too. Although the current composition of quarters is almost entirely made of copper and nickel, it’s possible the Mint could look in other directions as the prices of those metals rise. If that happens, Washington Quarters – even in their humble clad state – might become collectors’ items in their own right.

The important thing to remember is that collecting quarters is an ongoing process. Make sure to stay on top of the latest developments, either here at JM Bullion, or through the US Mint.

Sources:
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historic-coin-production
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/production-process/coin-production#composition
https://www.money.org/ten-rules/
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/collectors-corner/get-started-collecting-coins
https://coinweek.com/modern-quarters-worth-money/
https://bullionsharks.com/blog/10-most-valuable-modern-quarters-worth-money/