Washington Silver Quarters 1932-1964

The bicentennial of George Washington's birth fell in 1932, and the committee planning it wanted a Washington half dollar, using a medal design by Laura Gardin Fraser. Congress went another way. The Act of March 4, 1931, put Washington on the quarter instead, with a portrait based on Jean-Antoine Houdon's bust of 1785. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon then held a new competition and picked models by the New York sculptor John Flanagan, although the Commission of Fine Arts preferred Fraser's work. Mellon's successor, Ogden Mills, let the choice stand, and the new quarter went into circulation on August 1, 1932.

Sources disagree on what Congress intended. NGC describes the 1932 coin as meant to be a one-year commemorative. A House committee memorandum from 1931, however, said the new design would replace the Standing Liberty quarter for good, and newspapers in July 1932 told readers the coin was not a commemorative. Either way, Flanagan's design stayed.

The timing was poor. In the depth of the Depression there was little call for new quarters. Philadelphia struck about 5.4 million, while Denver and San Francisco each made just over 400,000, and no quarters at all are dated 1933. Production resumed in 1934, the year the Mint changed the obverse hub more than once and produced the three motto types collectors look for.

Proof quarters returned in 1936, the first in about twenty years, and were made through 1942. After a wartime pause they came back in 1950 and continued every year to 1964. San Francisco struck no quarters in 1949 and made its last silver quarters for circulation in 1954, so the 1955 to 1964 issues come only from Philadelphia and Denver.

The coin shortage of the early 1960s ended the series in a rush. Congress froze the date at 1964, so Philadelphia struck 1964-dated quarters well into 1965, and San Francisco's assay office added more in 1965 and 1966. Denver struck only 123,801,308 of its 704,135,528 1964-D quarters during 1964 itself. The Coinage Act of 1965 then replaced silver with copper-nickel clad.

Obverse. Washington's head faces left, adapted from the Houdon bust. LIBERTY runs across the top, IN GOD WE TRUST sits under the chin, and the date is at the bottom. Flanagan's initials are on the truncation of the bust.

Reverse. An eagle with outspread wings stands on a bundle of arrows, with two olive branches below. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA arcs across the top, E PLURIBUS UNUM sits just over the eagle's head, and QUARTER DOLLAR runs along the bottom.

Mint mark. On the reverse, under the eagle, centered between the stems of the olive branches. D is Denver and S is San Francisco. Philadelphia coins carry no letter.

Things that cause confusion.

• 1934 motto types. Look at the W in WE. On Heavy Motto coins its middle peak stands above the outer strokes; on Medium Motto coins it stops below them. Light Motto letters are thin and shallow, made from the old 1932 hub.
• Worn reverses. The 1932 reverse had a tall rim, used again only on Light Motto 1934 coins. Later quarters have a low reverse rim, so a worn coin often shows a full obverse and a reverse worn into the lettering. That is normal wear, not a defect.
• Added mint marks. Philadelphia coins altered to look like a 1932-D or 1932-S are a common fake. NGC notes the genuine 1932-D has only the small D, and added letters are often the wrong style.
• Type B and Type C reverses. From 1956, Philadelphia put some retired proof reverse dies into regular use. Coins from them show a clear gap between the E and S of STATES. A few 1964-D quarters carry the lower-relief reverse made for the 1965 clad coins.

• 1932-D: 436,800 struck. Most entered circulation around 1934, so worn coins are easy to find and gems are rare.
• 1932-S: 408,000 struck. A Philadelphia coin with an added S is a common fake, so authentication matters. It turns up a little more often in Mint State than the 1932-D.
• 1932: 5,404,000 struck. NGC warns of convincing counterfeits from the 1970s with a faint prooflike look.
• 1934 motto types: Light Motto, Medium Motto and Heavy Motto. Philadelphia struck 31,912,052 quarters that year in all; NGC finds Medium the most common, then Heavy, then Light.
• 1934 doubled die obverse: strong doubling on the motto of a Medium Motto die.
• 1937 doubled die obverse: the first of two 1937 doubled obverses, the one that catalogs picture and price.
• 1942-D doubled die obverse, 1943 doubled die obverse and 1943-S doubled die obverse: wartime dies with strong doubling, each listed and priced on its own.
• 1950-D/S and 1950-S/D: reverse dies punched with one mint's letter and then the other's.
• 1936 Proof: 3,837 struck, the first Washington proofs. The 1964 proof run reached 3,950,762.
• 1964-D transitional reverse: a 1964-D struck with the reverse prepared for the clad coinage.

• Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper
• Weight: 6.25 grams
• Silver content: 5.625 grams, or 0.1808 troy ounce
• Diameter: 24.3 mm
• Edge: reeded
• Designer: John Flanagan

These figures apply to every Washington quarter dated 1932 through 1964, business strikes and proofs alike. Clad quarters from 1965 onward weigh 5.67 grams and contain no silver.