1916 Standing Liberty Quarter

The 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter had a total mintage of 52,000 coins from the Philadelphia Mint. This was the first coin of the series, although it was struck within the last two weeks of 1916. It has the lowest mintage in the Standing Liberty Quarters series, as well as the lowest mintage of any U.S. coin in the 20th century. The 1916 Standing Liberty Coin is a key date in the series, and is highly valuable and sought after.

History of the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter

The 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter is a unique coin because it followed the Barber Quarter. Law stated that coin designs couldn’t be changed for 25 years, and 1916 was the 25th year. But the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter was produced anyway without any notice to the public, so virtually all of these coins went into circulation. This could be part of the reasons why these coins are so hard to find in the highest grades, and it was also known to have a weaker strike on the head of Lady Liberty, but it was possible to find with a sharp strike. The 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter is even more unique because the designer, Herman MacNeil, designed the coin with Lady Liberty holding a shield in one hand and an olive branch and the other. And she had one exposed bare breast. This would be the only year that this was so, as she was “clothed” with chain mail armor in all of the future designs beginning in 1917.