A.C. Dwyer's Coin Stories

1849 25¢ Quarter Dollar

Seated Liberty with Drapery

PCGS MS-64 CAC

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The Arlington Collection of U.S. Type Coins

The Arlington Collection of U.S. Type Coins

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Recent Auction Results:

Heritage Auction: 1849 NGC MS64 June 26, 2008 Price realized: 6,900.00

Stack's Auction: 1849 NGC MS64 August 5, 2007 Price realized: 8,625.00 *same coin

The Seated Liberty quarter dollar was struck from 1838 through 1891 with some design modifications along the way. The overall design followed that of the half dime and dime, which were changed in 1837, except that there is no "no stars" variety for the quarter dollar.

In 1840, mint employee Robert Hughes changed the design to include, among other things, extra drapery below Liberty's left elbow.

This example from The Arlington Collection is of the "with drapery" variety. It has beautiful iridescent toning and looks as though it has never been dipped or cleaned. Although 1849 is generally a common date for this coin, it becomes pretty scarce in this high of a grade. At the time of this writing, NGC and PCGS combined had only graded three examples higher, all as MS-65. 

Comparing photos, this coin is obviously the same one that sold in the Stack's auction on August 5, 2007 where they state the coin is "among the half dozen finest examples of the date certified by NGC." It sold again in a Heritage auction on June 26, 2008. At that time the coin was in a NGC MS-64 holder with a CAC sticker on it. It obviously was cracked out and resubmitted because it is now in a PCGS holder. But that clearly indicates that this coin is a high end MS-64 pushing gem status.

Designer: Christian Gobrecht

Weight: 6.68 grams

Diameter: approx. 24.3mm, reeded edge

Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper

PCGS Price Guide:

                      Seated Liberty Quarter (1838-1891)

Article: How to calculate the content and value of gold or silver in a coin