The Washington Quarter

Years in Circulation: 1932-1964

Other Names: Washington Quarters, Washington state Quarter, ‘two bits’

Famous: Not particularly, though two mintings had lower numbers

Value as of October 2011: Silver melt value of about $6.00; earlier coins worth up to $15,000; but most mintings are only worth up to $30.00 due to recent circulation. See article for details.

The Washington Quarter (save for a slight deviation in design in 1964), was the last design for the American quarter and the basic design continues on today. This quarter was first minted in 1932 in order to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of George Washington. The quarter features a side profile of George Washington on one side and an outstretched eagle clutching a bundle of arrows over an olive branch on the other side. The quarter was designed by John Flanagan.

The Washington quarter was minted in Philadelphia,Denver and San Francisco mints and was made with the traditional 90% silver and 10% copper. This changed in 1964 when mintings were made with a copper-nickel clad combination. This makes the original runs of the Washington Quarters more valuable; and in this case, the older, the better. Due to the generally recent minting of the last silver quarter, most of the mintings aren’t worth more than $30.00.

However, there is some value to be had in the Washington quarters. Older mintings are worth more with the 1932-D and 1932-S being worth up to $15,000 for an uncirculated and clean coin. The 1935-unmarked (but made in Philadelphia) and 1936-D are worth up to $1500 (quite a drop!). Most Washington Quarters though are only worth between $30.00 and several hundred dollars.

In 1965, the composition of the Washington Quarter changed to an outer layer of 75% Copper, 25% Nickel and an inward composition of 91.67% copper and 8.33% nickel. In 1976, a special issue of quarters contained 40% silver and 60% copper. In 1999, Washington took part in the 50 States Quarters program, unveiling the Washington state quarter in 2007. These quarters were only released for ten weeks and then were never minted again.

While the Washington quarter isn’t the most interesting of quarters to collect, historically speaking, there is a wide collection and many of them are still very easy to get, making them appealing for beginner collectors. Finding quarters in excellent condition is still fairly tricky and so is appealing to veteran collectors and investors. All in all, the Washington quarter is an excellent addition (or many additions!) to your collection and a good way to get started if you’re new to coin collecting.

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Related posts:

1. The Standing Liberty Quarter
2. George V Quarter (1911-1919)
3. Edward VII Quarter (1910)
4. George V Quarter (1920-1936)
5. The Barber Quarter