1796

First struck in 1796, this issue is the inaugural quarter dollar produced by the United States Mint and the only quarter ever paired with the Small Eagle reverse. The Coinage Act of 1792 had authorized the denomination, but four years passed before Philadelphia delivered the first warrant. Robert Scot, the Mint's Chief Engraver, used the same Draped Bust obverse already in service on the half dollar and dollar, and that reverse pairing turned out to be a single-year experiment: every quarter struck from 1804 forward carried the Heraldic Eagle. No quarters were minted again until 1804, which leaves this date as the only 18th-century quarter in the entire denomination. Across four warrants between April 1796 and February 1797, just 6,146 pieces left the coining presses, split between two die marriages (a die marriage is one specific obverse die paired with one specific reverse die). PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, estimates roughly 650 survivors across all grades (about 10 to 12 percent of the mintage), perhaps 50 to 60 in Mint State, and only a handful at the gem level.

Two Browning die marriages are recognized (Browning refers to A.W. Browning's 1925 attribution work on early quarters): B-1, the "Low 6" or canted-9 variety with a raised dimple near the base of the 9 and a blundered denticle between stars one and two, and B-2, the "High 6" with the date crowding Liberty's bust. The B-2 reverse shatters dramatically in its late state, producing the cracked-die look first cataloged at a 1935 London auction. Authenticators weigh genuine examples at roughly 6.74 grams on a .8924-fine silver planchet; cast counterfeits typically miss the weight tolerance and reveal grainy surface texture under 10x. Because raw examples in even Good condition trade in the high four figures, the market accepts only TPG-slabbed coins (TPG meaning third-party grader, the umbrella term for PCGS, NGC, and a small group of peers). NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, applies the same scrutiny. Many higher-grade pieces show reflective fields, and PCGS attaches a PL (Prooflike) designation at MS (Mint State) 60 and above.

That survival rate is unusually high for an 18th-century coin, and the best explanation is that recipients saved the novel denomination at issue. The Colonel E.H.R. Green "hoard" theory of 100 to 200 Mint State specimens has been debunked: Green owned six Mint State Draped Bust quarters total, one per date plus the 1806/5 overdate. Auction results anchor the top of the census. The Eric P. Newman MS67 brought $1,527,700 at Heritage in November 2013; the D. Brent Pogue MS66, with Newcomer and Clarke provenance, sold for $1,527,500 at Stack's Bowers in May 2015 and then $1,740,000 at Heritage in January 2022 as part of the Bob R. Simpson Collection. The Eliasberg SP (Specimen strike) 66 from the B-1 dies realized $881,250 at Heritage in August 2014. For full context on the design family and its place in the denomination's first decade, see the Draped Bust Quarter series history.