1843

The 1843 Philadelphia Seated Liberty Quarter marks a return to ordinary production for the Mother Mint after the unusually thin 88,000-piece 1842 run. Reported delivery is 645,600 pieces, a comfortable mid-range figure that sits well above the surrounding early-1840s Philadelphia issues and a notable recovery from the prior year's bottleneck. The coin carries the Drapery obverse hub introduced in mid-1840 and the same heraldic-eagle reverse that had anchored Seated quarter production since the 1838 launch. Specialists recognize multiple die marriages for the year, including a known repunched-date variant catalogued by Seated quarter literature, though attribution at the certified-grade level remains uncommon outside specialist channels.

Strike on the issue is the most consistently respectable of the early-1840s Philadelphia run. Liberty's head usually shows readable detail, the shield lines hold up well even on intermediate die states, and the eagle's claws and lower leg feathers are generally cleaner than on the 1841 or 1842. Surfaces tend toward satin luster on the small number of original-skin Mint State survivors. The drapery diagnostic at Liberty's elbow confirms the obverse subtype; weight should fall near 6.68 g per the Mint Act of January 18, 1837 standard, and the date should match the recognized 1843 Philadelphia logotype rather than the differently sized New Orleans punches used the same year. Counterfeit risk is moderate at higher grades, with certification through PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, or NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, the working baseline above Extremely Fine. Survival skews to the Fine through Extremely Fine band, with a healthier Mint State pipeline than most of the surrounding dates; PCGS and NGC populations stay readable through MS62 and MS63 before thinning sharply above MS64, and gem MS65 survivors are scarce but present at either grading service.

The Regular classification accurately reflects how the date trades. Date-set builders treat the 1843 as the easy entry point in the 1838-1844 transition group, and circulated examples in problem-free Very Fine or Extremely Fine clear specialist inventories without much delay. Mid-grade Mint State coins surface routinely through major auction houses, which keeps prices honest for buyers building a quality date-and-mint Seated set without specializing. Original gray patina, a sharp date, and clean fields matter more than chasing the highest numeric grade. For the broader story of Gobrecht's design, the No Drapery to Drapery transition, and the series' production arc, see the Seated Liberty Quarter series history.