Lot 880
1874 Liberty Seated Quarter Dollar. Arrows. PCGS graded Proof 66. Old green holder. Lovely blue, green and golden toning. Only 700 Proofs minted. A wonderful superb example of the arrows Proof quarter. Could be a run-a-way coin. Population 10; 3 finer in Proof 67 (PCGS # 5575) .
Historic note: The Coinage Act of 1873 changed the United States policy with respect to silver. Before the Act, the United States had backed its currency with both gold and silver, and it minted both types of coins. The Act moved the United States to the gold standard, which meant it would no longer buy silver or mint silver coins from the public on demand (that is, "free coinage"), but instead only from approved (think, politically connected) Western mine owners.
Yet for all of the later rhetoric by advocates of free silver coinage (primarily in 1876-1877), the 1873 Coinage Act actually favored silver coinage. It did abolish the silver dollar (which was not in circulation anyway), the three-cent silver (trime), and the half dime, but the latter two were of little importance considering the new five-cent pieces of copper-nickel.
As in the case of the 1853-5 "With Arrows" silver coins, arrows were added to the obverses of the 1873 and 1874 silver quarter dollars to facilitate the sorting of the old weight coins (those struck prior to the April 1873 Mint Act) from the new weight coins. This was mostly a matter of expedience at the Mint and Treasury. According to Bowers, "after April 1, no more of the old weight coins could be released, as they were now of illegal weight under the new measure. The arrows enabled Mint and Treasury personnel to readily distinguish the new coins, which were to be shipped out immediately, from the old coins, which were to be held back, eventually to be melted."
Estimated Value $8,000 - 9,000.
|
| |
| Realized $11,500 |
