1864 Seated Liberty Quarter

About This Coin

The 1864 Seated Liberty Quarter is a United States quarter from the Seated Liberty Quarters 1838-1891 series — 27th of 54 years in the series. In 1864, coins were struck at the San Francisco and Philadelphia Mints with a combined mintage of 114,070. This ranks 17th of 54 years by total mintage, below the series median of 500,580. The obverse features Liberty seated on a rock, holding a pole surmounted by a Phrygian liberty cap in her left hand and a shield inscribed LIBERTY in her right and the reverse displays a heraldic eagle with shield on breast, olive branch and arrows in talons, with a banner reading E PLURIBUS UNUM. Produced during the Civil War, when coin hoarding caused severe shortages and the Mint experimented with new compositions to keep coins in circulation. Struck in 90% silver, 10% copper, weighing 6.2 grams, 24.3 mm in diameter, with a reeded edge. Across its variants, estimated values range from $197 to $25K depending on mint mark, grade, and strike type. A notable auction result reached $113K in MS68 grade at Bowers & Merena. Designed by Robert Ball Hughes/Christian Gobrecht.