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Standing Liberty Quarter Dollars: 1916-1930
Mid-way through 1916, a new design for the quarter dollar was adopted. The new design featured a robed female figure standing in the gateway of a stone wall on the obverse, and a flying eagle on the reverse. This coin was one of the three "Liberty" coins issued in 1916: the Winged Liberty Dime, the Standing Liberty Quarter Dollar, and the Walking Liberty Half Dollar.
- Designer: Hermon A. MacNeil
- Diameter: .95 inch (24.3 mm); reeded edge
- Composition: .900 silver, .100 copper
- Weight: 6.25 grams
- Mints: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco
- Mint marks: D or S on obverse, at left of the date
| Type 1: 1916-1917
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This new quarter had a controversial obverse image: Miss Liberty's right breast was exposed. Oh, the shame of it all!
For contrast, note the lack of public outcry over the 1996 Nativity stamp issued by the US Postal Service. It features an anatomically correct baby Jesus, but where's the hue and cry from the decency police now? Think about it: It's OK to have an image of a penis on a stamp that gets licked, but it's immoral to have the image of a breast on a coin that I hold in my hand! Go figure.
| Type 2: 1917-1930
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Only 52,000 of the new quarters were minted in 1916, so the general public didn't get to see much of Miss Liberty's breast until 1917. Even then there wasn't a big outcry from the public over this 'lewd and decadent design', but a Treasury guy who had aspirations for the presidency thought there might be so he forced the issue and had the design changed mid-way through 1917 so that his reputation would not be 'besmirched' by this coin.
The obverse for the Type 2 coin was reworked to cover Miss Liberty's breast with a fabric called 'chain mail'. Also, the reverse was redesigned to have the eagle more centered on the coin, which allowed the stars to be rearranged to have five on each side, and three under the eagle.
The coin tended to wear rapidly in circulation, most noticeably at the date, so the design was further reworked in 1925 to recess the date somewhat, making it less affected by wear.
The Standing Liberty Quarter Dollar was a beautiful coin, indeed, but it was destined to be short lived. First minted in 1916, the last coin was struck in 1930, just 14 years later.
NOTES:
- Mintage for 1916 was only 52,000 pieces, all from Philadelphia.
- The scale of this chart is limited to 14,500,000 coins to allow the lowest quantity issues to be displayed while accurately charting most other issues. In 1920, the quarter dollar production in Philadelphia was 27,860,000 coins, nearly double the chart limit.
- No quarter dollars were minted in 1922.
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