1875 H Canadian Quarter
The 1875 H Canadian Quarter is a Canadian quarter struck for circulation with 1 million made. Value band: metal value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 1875
- Circulation mintage
- 1,000,000
- Value band
- Metal value
- Composition
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper)
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1875 H Canadian Quarter worth?
The 1875 H Canadian Quarter is a silver coin with 0.1728 troy ounces of pure silver, so its floor is its metal value: 0.1728 times the day's silver spot price. With 1 million made, worn examples trade for about their silver; collectors pay more for sharp, original coins and much more for uncirculated ones with full luster.
What would make yours worth more:
- Sharp detail with original luster
- A recognized variety for the date
- Professional grading for a key date
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 1875 H Canadian Quarter rare?
- Not by mintage. 1 million were made, but it is silver, so even worn examples are worth their metal value rather than face value.
- How many 1875 H Canadian quarters were made?
- 1,000,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 1875 H Canadian Quarter made of?
- Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper). It weighs 5.81 g and measures 23.62 mm.
- Is the 1875 H Canadian Quarter still legal tender?
- Yes. Every Canadian quarter is legal tender at 25 cents, but a silver one is worth more for its metal than its face value.
The 1875 quarter in context
Every Canadian quarter dated 1875 came from the Heaton mint in Birmingham and carries an H. The published mintage is 1,000,000, a solid figure for the period. Yet the 1875-H is one of the hardest Victorian quarters to find, a well known key date that collectors mention in the same breath as the 1889. Survivors are scarce in every grade, which tells you that the reported number and the number of coins that reached collectors are two very different things.
The 1870s were Heaton's decade, with the Birmingham firm striking all of Canada's quarters from 1872 to 1883. The 1872-H and 1874-H were large orders and turn up regularly. After 1875 came a long pause, with no quarters dated 1876 to 1879, so the 1875-H was the last new quarter for several years. Whatever the reason so few survive, the result is a coin that many collectors never manage to add to their sets. With a key date like this, a careful look at the date is always sensible. It rewards patience.
How to recognize it
Victoria's crowned portrait sits inside the legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA. The reverse shows 25 CENTS and 1875 inside a maple wreath with a crown above, plus the Heaton mint's small H. The coin is sterling silver, about 5.81 g, so it should feel no lighter than other Victorian quarters. Look closely at the final digit. A 5 has a flat top bar and a curved lower loop; check that it matches the style and depth of the other digits in the date. Then confirm the H is present. Every genuine 1875 quarter has that letter, so a coin dated 1875 without one deserves suspicion.
1875 H Canadian Quarter by the numbers
By the numbers, the 1875 H Canadian Quarter ranks 38th lowest of 147 Canadian quarter dates and varieties from 1870 to 2024. The next scarcer is the 1936 Canadian Quarter (972,094); the next more common is the 1914 Canadian Quarter (1.22 million).
For scale, the most common is the 2000 Canadian Quarter with 434.1 million, about 434 times as many. The scarcest is the 1889 Canadian Quarter with 66,324, 15 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 1875 output was 1.6 times fewer than 1874 and 2.5 times the 1880 figure.
Over the 1870s the Mint produced 6.89 million quarters across 6 dates and varieties; the 1875 H Canadian Quarter accounts for 15% of that.
What to check on your 1875 H Canadian Quarter
- Check the date first: silver Canadian quarters carry dates from 1870 to 1968; this one has 0.1728 troy oz. Silver coins are not magnetic and ring clearly when dropped on a hard surface.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or polishing leaves fine scratches that collectors spot at once and that cut the value of silver dates sharply.
- Look at the high points of the portrait and the design. Wear there sets the grade. The grade in turn drives the value of older quarters.
The 1875-H carries a collector premium in every condition and ranks among the significant rarities of the Victorian series. Even a heavily worn coin with a clear date is wanted. That makes authentication more important here than for common dates. Weigh the coin, compare its style with a known Victorian quarter and consider having it checked by a grading service before you assume anything. A sharp example with readable hair detail is a major find. Never clean a key date coin like this.
Victoria sterling quarters, 1870 to 1901
Canada's first 25 cent coins are dated 1870, three years after Confederation. At the time the young Dominion was awash with American silver coins that circulated at a discount, so the government pushed much of that silver out of the country and ordered silver coins of its own in 5, 10, 25 and 50 cent sizes. Canada had no mint, so the coins were struck in England. The obverse shows a crowned Queen Victoria with the legend VICTORIA DEI GRATIA REGINA CANADA. On the reverse, 25 CENTS and the date sit inside a wreath of maple leaves with a crown at the top.
These were sterling silver, 92.5 percent pure, weighing about 5.81 g, which works out to roughly 0.173 troy ounces of pure silver per coin. The Royal Mint in London struck most years, while the private Heaton mint in Birmingham filled several orders and added a small H to the coins it made. Orders followed demand and demand was patchy. No quarters are dated 1873, 1876 to 1879, 1884 or 1895 to 1898. Published mintages swing from 2,240,000 for 1872-H down to just 66,324 for 1889.
Read the date first, then look for the H, because a few years exist both with and without it. The scarce dates of the reign are 1889, the rarest regular Victorian quarter, followed by 1887, 1893, 1891 and 1885, with the Heaton coins of 1875 and 1880 close behind. Most Victorian quarters that survive are well worn, often down to a smooth crown and a faint date, after decades in pockets and tills. Clear hair detail and readable veins in the maple leaves are what lift a coin above the crowd. On the key dates, check the last digit carefully, since a worn 6 or 8 can pass for something rarer.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | Canada |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 25 cents |
| Issuer | Royal Canadian Mint |
| Year | 1875 |
| Circulation mintage | 1,000,000 |
| Composition | Sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper) |
| Weight | 5.81 g |
| Diameter | 23.62 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Reeded |
Frequently asked questions
Why is the 1875-H Canadian quarter rare if 1,000,000 were made?
The published figure is high, but surviving coins are far scarcer than that number suggests. Collectors treat the 1875-H as one of the key Victorian dates and examples in any grade are hard to find.
Is there an 1875 Canadian quarter without an H?
No regular quarter dated 1875 was struck in London. All 1875 quarters came from the Heaton mint in Birmingham and should show an H, so a coin dated 1875 without it needs a closer look.
Mintage figures: Quarter (Canadian coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Canadian Mint figures. How we build these pages.