Draped Bust Quarters

Robert Scot designed the Draped Bust quarter, applying the same portrait used across every other silver denomination of the period to what was then a relatively new addition to the American coinage lineup. The quarter dollar had been authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792 but was not actually produced until 1796, four years after the Mint opened as other denominations took priority, and so the quarter waited its turn. Scot's obverse Liberty, facing right with loosely tied hair and a draped bust, was the familiar Gilbert Stuart adaptation that had appeared on everything from the half dime to the dollar by this point. The reverse carried a small eagle perched within a wreath for the first type, and the heraldic eagle with shield, arrows, and olive branch for the second.