U.S. Silver Quarters and History

The Washington silver quarter series, better known to the public as generic silver quarters, were produced by the U.S. mint from 1932 until 1964. These coins are most noticeable and are frequently found by accident due to the different noise they give off when jingled with change or dropped on the ground. One of the most frequent ways people find one tends to be as they are rummaging for change for parking meters.

Silver quarters are in fact almost all silver, which makes them somewhat lighter than their later counterparts which use a copper nickel mix. With a 90 percent core of silver weighing in at 0.18 of an ounce, the old coins are now actually worth far more in scrap silver price than their face value. Other than these characteristics, silver quarters are the same shape as later quarters and mix into coin rolls from banks frequently.

History Of The Silver Quarter

The genesis of the silver quarter started a year before issuance began with a government decision in 1931 to originally celebrate the second century birthday of George Washington with a half-dollar coin. One side of the planned coin was to have Washington’s side profile while the other side would be determined through a submittal contest and design pick. Unfortunately, the planning was a bit premature since the organizing group hadn’t secured Congressional approval for the whole affair. Laura Gardin Fraser won the contest for the opposite side design. Her husband was already well-known as the designer of the U.S. nickel with the buffalo motif.

When Congressional approval was finally up for decision, Congress asserted its own power and rearranged the celebration details. The half-dollar plan was eliminated. Instead, Congress chose to have the existing quarter design be updated with the celebration, eliminating future productions of the standing liberty quarters in the process. The original Washington motif was reassigned to the new quarter as well.

The original contest for the opposite side of the silver quarter was scrapped and a new contest was initiated. Many involved still promoted and advocated for Fraser’s original winning contest submission, however. Instead, U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon went ahead with the new contest, nullifying Fraser’s submittal completely.

Fraser submitted a smaller version of her original half-dollar design in the new contest against 100 other entries. All the entries were received at the end of October 1931, leaving little time for decision-making with 1932 being the celebration year. Again, The Treasury Secretary denied Fraser’s work and John Flanagan was awarded the design prize. Even after the given Secretary ended up quitting his post, his successor still stuck with Flanagan as the winner. Regardless of the change in metal composition, Flannagan’s design was issued as the new quarter in 1932 and remains today as the current coin.

Fraser’s design did finally get used on the commemorative $5 gold coin, or half-eagle, in 1999, again commemorating George Washington's birthday. Unfortunately it was 33 years after she had passed away so she never had a chance to see the design go into coinage production.

Composition Of Silver Quarters

Silver quarters hit a weigh scale at 6.25 grams per coin. As noted earlier, they include 0.18 of a troy ounce of silver. The metal mix is 10 percent copper and the remainder is all silver. The coins were issued from three different mints: Denver, San Francisco, and Philiadelphia. However, only two mints are stamped on the coins as S for San Francisco and D for Denver. Philadelphia coins are blank.

Silver Quarter Rarities

The rare silver coins to find range the spectrum of the years of production. All of them have mint marks. These include:

• 1932 D
• 1932 S
• 1934 (Philadelphia)
• 1935 D
• 1936 D
• 1937 (Philadelphia)
• 1937 S
• 1938 S
• 1939 S
• 1940 D
• 1942 D
• 1942 D
• 1943 (Philadelphia)
• 1943 S
• 1950 D/S
• 1950 S/D
• 1955 D

Not surprisingly, much of what causes rarity condition has to do with the inability to easily find the specific coins. Some never had high minting inventory to begin with, making them also harder to find years later. Those that have few existing samples remaining see significant price appreciation due to collector demand. Almost all the rarities are worth far more than the silver in the coin, but even scrap silver quarters see pricing of almost $5 per coin for the base silver value alone. Those coins with stamping mistakes are highly prized but collectors should be careful with them if bought – the federal government today has a habit of seizing coins that were mistakes and not supposed to be issued in the first place.

Where to Find Coins

The easiest place to find silver quarters or gold quarters today is either through coin dealers or Internet auctions. However, both methods will require a buyer to pay close to if not over full value. Some folks like to purchase coin rolls from banks to see if they can find gems. Those who consistently follow this practice regularly find more common silver quarters but all have been circulated and are quite beat up.

Even if not a rare sample, any silver quarter found or obtained should be held onto. They don't appear very often and with commodity prices rising lately, more and more people are opting to sell their silver to raise additional cash in hard times. That trend can mean the disappearance of more coins over time for their base silver content.

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