Last week I acquired a new 1923 Standing Liberty Quarter to add to my collection, which is what inspired me to write this blog. Designed by Hermon MacNeil, this is one of the most popular coin designs for collectors. The prices of these coins are generally much higher than other coins minted in the same time-period. The overall mintage of the Standing Liberty Quarter series is much lower than the popular Mercury Dimes and Buffalo Nickels. From 1916 to 1924, the dates wore off much sooner than any of the details. This is because the date is the highest part on early date Standing Liberty Quarters. This led to extreme difficulties for grading companies, like PCGS and NGC, as well as collectors and dealers. There is essentially only one that that is required to grade coins. That is that the coin must be identifiable by year, denomination, series, variety, etc. Unfortunately, many of the earlier Standing Liberty Quarters ended up “ungradable.” Coins that may normally be a good, or sometimes even a very good example, may be ungradable simply because of the lack of the date. From 1925 to 1930, the date was recessed, which was very beneficial. The coins weigh 6.25 grams and are composed of 90% silver and 10% copper.

There are countless different coins any collector can collect. There�are�tons of options for US coins, world coins, ancient coins, and even currency and tokens. You need to choose what you want to collect to allow you to be the happiest collector you can be. I already did an article about this for the types of sets you can collect, but you don’t even have to go into a set, but rather, collect something that fits you that may not even be a traditional route. The following are some important things to consider before starting a collection. Even if you’ve been collecting for years, you can always change it up and collect something different.�

My original article got very long, so I decided to break it up. I don’t want you to lose interest.�

The Barber Quarter, also known as the Liberty Head Quarter, was minted between 1892�and 1916 and�was�preceded�by�the Seated Liberty Quarter and was�succeeded�by the Standing Liberty Quarter. These coins were designed by Charles E. Barber, hence the name Barber. The reason they are also known as the Liberty Head Quarter is because the head on the obverse is that of Lady Liberty. A common complaint about this coin is that many believe the�portrait�looks much more like a man than a woman. Many would be led to believe that is Mr. Liberty, but it is not.�The�coin weighs 6.25 grams and is composed of 90% silver and 10% copper. It has a diameter of 24.3, all the same as the previous Seated Liberty series and the Standing Liberty Quarters. These coins have the same obverse and reverse design as the Half Dollar and Dime of the time, both which were also designed by Charles E. Barber. In 1892, the coin�has�two different�varieties, one with a larger eagle and one with a smaller eagle on the reverse. The coins were minted in Philadelphia, Denver, New Orleans, and San Francisco. All proof coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint. This series is generally low on errors, as the machinery for�striking�the coins were greatly improved.��

Using proper terminology in collecting is incredibly important. Nobody is going to take you seriously if you start talking about a coin and say things like “The words on the front of�it�are great!” Or “It looks like the mint stamped the coin really well.” If you don’t know the proper terminology, you are not a serious collector, no matter how much other stuff you know about a specific coin.��