1891 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof
Proof struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 600 made
- Mintage
- 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 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof worth?
Few coins in the series are harder to find. Even a worn 1891 sells well above face value. The flip side is that counterfeits and altered dates are common, so authentication matters.
What would make yours worth more:
- Grade and, for proofs, strong cameo contrast
- 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 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof rare?
- Fairly. The Mint made 600 for collectors. Most were kept in their original packaging.
- Is the 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.1808 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter?
- On the reverse, below the eagle. Philadelphia quarters have no mint mark.
- How many 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter proofs were made?
- 600.
What to check on your 1891
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- 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.
Proofs from 1891 were struck one at a time in small numbers and many were later spent or mishandled. Look for hairlines from cleaning, which lower the grade.
The story of the 1891
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 1891
The Liberty Seated dime, quarter and half dollar were struck for the last time before Barber's designs replaced them in 1892.
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 | 1891 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Proof |
| Mintage | 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 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter | 3,920,000 | Circulation strike | 0.1808 oz |
| 1891 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof | 600 | Proof | 0.1808 oz |
| 1891-S Seated Liberty Quarter | 2,216,000 | Circulation strike | 0.1808 oz |
| 1891-O Seated Liberty Quarter | 68,000 | Circulation strike | 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.