1879 Seated Liberty Quarter
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 13,600 made
- Mintage
- 13,600
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 6.25 g
- Diameter
- 24.3 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter worth?
This is one of the dates collectors hunt for. A genuine 1879 is valuable in any condition, even well worn. That's exactly why fakes and altered coins turn up so often.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter rare?
- Yes. Only 13,600 were made, 11th lowest of the 108 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.1808 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter?
- On the reverse, below the eagle. Philadelphia quarters have no mint mark.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1879 are scarcer?
- The 1884 at 8,000, the 1881 at 12,000. So the 1879 is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter coins were made?
- 13,600.
What to check on your 1879
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof (1,100 made) is the one to compare with.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. The word LIBERTY on Liberty's shield is the classic test: fully visible in Fine, partly worn in Very Good, gone in Good.
Never clean it. Collectors pay strong premiums for original surfaces and natural toning on a date like this. A cleaned coin can lose half its value or more. Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1879
Production at Philadelphia fell off a cliff in 1879. Only 13,600 were made, against 2.3 million the year before. That drop is why the 1879 is the one people look for. In 1880 the figure was 13,600.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1879 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1880 (13,600) and the 1885 (13,600).
Across Philadelphia's 56 Seated Liberty Quarter issues, the hardest to find is the 1886 with 5,000 made. The 1879 is on the scarcer side of the middle. Within the 1870s it's 5th smallest of 28, between the 1873-CC, With Arrows (12,462) and the 1872-CC (22,850).
Small mintages in the final years (1879 to 1891)
By 1879 the country had more quarters than commerce needed. The Mint was also busy with silver dollars under the Bland-Allison Act. Philadelphia struck only 13,600 business strikes in 1879 and just 5,000 in 1886, the low point. Collectors and speculators saved many of these coins, so survivors are often uncirculated and frequently prooflike.
San Francisco struck 1,216,000 in 1888, the only branch mint quarter of the 1880s. In 1891 production surged again at Philadelphia, San Francisco and New Orleans. The 1891-O, with 68,000 struck, was the first New Orleans quarter since 1860 and is scarce. Philadelphia made several hundred to more than a thousand proofs every year of the period. For several dates the proofs are easier to locate than business strikes of the same year.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1879
The New Orleans Mint reopened for coinage, striking Morgan dollars. Many Morgan dollars from this period sat in Treasury vaults for decades.
How to recognize it
Liberty sits on a rock holding a shield inscribed LIBERTY and a pole topped with a liberty cap, with 13 stars around her and the date below. The reverse shows an eagle with QUAR. DOL. below. Arrows beside the date (1853 to 1855 and 1873 to 1874) and rays around the eagle (1853) mark weight changes. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears above the eagle from 1866.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Seated Liberty Quarter (1838–1891) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1879 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 13,600 |
| Face value | 25¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 6.25 grams |
| Diameter | 24.3 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.1808 troy oz (5.625 g) |
| Designer | Christian Gobrecht |
Other 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter | 13,600 | Circulation strike | 0.1808 oz |
| 1879 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof | 1,100 | Proof | 0.1808 oz |
Mintage: United States quarter mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.