Standing Liberty Quarter 1921

[inker03]

Hi, to everyone, I found this coin the other day. It is worn but my main doubt is about the date. As far as I can see the only visible number is a 1 at the end, and because these coins were mint from 1916 to 1930 I assume it's from 1921 which is not a cheap year.

What do you think about it? is it from 1921? do you also see a visible 1 or it may be another number?









Thanks in advance!

Martín

[Quant.Geek]

Even if it was 1921, without the date, the coin wouldn't really be worth that much.  I remember back in the 80s, my Dad used to buy these coins solely for the silver content.  It was quite common during those days since the cost of silver was so high.  The value of the silver content in a coin was sometimes worth more than the numismatic value.  So a lot of silver coins were melted down.  This also applies to the dateless Buffalo nickels...


Ram

[Alan Glasser]

Hi, Martin.

I just found your post so decided to have a little fun with your VERY lucky find of the 1921 quarter in circulation. I hope you are still enjoying collecting and are still on the boards.

Your coin is from the Philadelphia mint. 1,916,000 were minted so it is a scarce date to be sure. What puzzled me was the wear of the date while the remaining features of the coin showed a higher degree of detail. So I did a bit of research. In my copy of "Standing Liberty Quarters" 4th edition, by J.H. Kline it states, "Unlike the earlier Standing Liberty Quarters, the 1921 was often weakly struck at the lower half of the date, further proiving that the dies were modified". Well...this may well explain the wear on the date. From the "Official American Numismatic Association Grading Guide", 6th edition, it states, "Coins of 1916 through 1924 have the date on a raised platform that is easily worn away in lower grades".

So now we have a bit of an issue. How does one grade this coin? Well, in my humble opinion, the coin has VG details except for the date (again using the ANA Grading Guide). Because of this, I believe the coin would grade in between AG and VG  as the date weakness is typical in lower grades. So, I'd give it a grade of "Good". Now this might cause some controversy but because the poor date quality is typical in lower grades, it may not detract totally from the overall grade. Please check out these 3 E-Bay listings. I am inclined to go with Good 6 as with the PCGS grading. In any event...you had a very lucky day when you found the coin in circulation.

Alan    Massachusetts
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1921-STANDING-LIBERTY-25c-G06-PCGS-/190785821744?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item2c6bb89c30
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1921-STANDING-LIBERTY-25c-G06-PCGS-/190785821744?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item2c6bb89c30
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1921-PCGS-VG08-LOW-MINTAGE-Standing-Liberty-Quarter-FREE-SHIPPING-US-Coin-894-/370776451823?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item5653ffaaef

[Quant.Geek]

That is close to $200!!!   in that grade with a barely visible date.  I am totally shell shocked.   Never expected to reach that level.  WOW.  Congrats...Here is one of my SLQ, another childhood coin.  The redish hue is not on the coin itself and is due to lighting and camera:






Ram

[Buffalosoldat]

If you look at the PCGS on-line photograde system, you'll find that they have divided Standing Liberty Quarters into two sets of photos: 1916-1924 and 1925-1930. As discussed above, this is because of the issues relating to strength of the date arising from deficiencies in design. I agree with Alan that the one in the original post is VG6, despite the weak date.

I don't know how far into PCGS this will take you, but it's worth a look:

http://www.pcgs.com/Photograde/#/SLQe/Grades