Draped Bust Quarters 1796-1807

The Mint Act of 1792 provided for a quarter dollar, but the Mint did not strike one until 1796, two years after its first silver coins. NGC puts the delay down to the Spanish colonial two-reales pieces that already passed in large numbers at the same 25 cents. The first quarters carried Robert Scot's Draped Bust Liberty, drawn from a portrait by Gilbert Stuart, with the small eagle reverse then in use on the other silver coins. They were delivered in three batches between April and June 1796, and a last 252 coins dated 1796 followed on February 28, 1797, for a total of 6,146.

No more quarters were made until 1804. By then the reverse had changed to the heraldic eagle adapted from the Great Seal, so the 1796 is the only quarter with the small eagle. A delivery of 6,738 quarters on June 12, 1804 began the second type, and production rose each year: 121,394 in 1805, 206,124 in 1806 and 220,643 in 1807. The Mint reported calendar-year deliveries rather than coins of each date, and NGC thinks the first 1807 deliveries were coins dated 1806.

After 1807 the Mint again stopped making quarters. The next ones were John Reich's Capped Bust quarters, struck in December 1815 to fill a bank's order.

Obverse. Liberty faces right, her hair tied with a ribbon and a drape across her bust. LIBERTY is above her and the date below. The 1796 has 15 stars, eight on the left and seven on the right. The 1804–1807 coins have 13, seven on the left and six on the right.

Reverse, 1796. A small eagle stands on clouds inside an open wreath tied with a bow, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around it. There is no statement of value.

Reverse, 1804–1807. A heraldic eagle with a shield on its breast holds a bundle of arrows and an olive branch, in the reverse of the usual heraldic order. A scroll in its beak reads E PLURIBUS UNUM, thirteen stars and a band of clouds sit above it, and the value 25 C. is split by the eagle's tail at the bottom.

Edge. Reeded.

Mint mark. None. All Draped Bust quarters were struck at Philadelphia.

Telling the types apart.

Things that cause confusion.

• The 1806/5. The 5 under the 6 is usually visible without magnification. A plain 1806 has a clean 6.
• Strike. The coins were struck in an open collar, so rims are often uneven, and the centers, especially the eagle, are frequently weak.

Die marriages. Varieties are identified by Browning numbers, from Ard W. Browning's study of early quarters, with Steve Tompkins's Early United States Quarters 1796-1838 (2008) as the modern reference. 1796 has two marriages, 1804 two, 1805 five, 1806 ten and 1807 two.

• 1796: 6,146 struck, the only Small Eagle quarter. Its two marriages share one reverse: B-1 has a low 6 in the date and B-2 a high 6.
• 1804: 6,738 struck, all delivered on June 12, 1804, from two marriages.
• 1805: 121,394 struck, delivered in seven warrants between April 29 and July 31.
• 1806/5 (B-1): the only overdate of the type. Browning found that both of its dies had already struck the 1805 B-4, so a used 1805 obverse was re-dated.
• 1806: 206,124 struck from six obverses and eight reverses in ten marriages. CoinWeek notes an 1806 reverse on which the C of 25 C. was punched over an A.
• 1807: 220,643 reported for 1807, from two marriages, the last Draped Bust quarters.

• 1796–1807: 6.74 g, 89.24% silver and 10.76% copper, about 27.5 mm, holding 0.1933 troy oz of silver
• Designer: Robert Scot, after a portrait by Gilbert Stuart