1851 Seated Liberty Quarter

177,060 quarters left Philadelphia in 1851. Silver coins were beginning to disappear from circulation. The influx of California gold had depressed gold's price relative to silver, which meant the silver in American coins was now worth more than the coins' face value. Bullion dealers and foreign banks were buying silver coins at face value and melting them for the metal, a perfectly legal and profitable operation that drained small change from the American economy. The 1851 quarter circulated through a country that was slowly losing access to its own coinage.

PCGS estimates roughly 400 survive across all grades. The 1851 is scarce in all conditions, and finding one above Fine requires active searching. The coin's position in the series, one year before the crisis peaked, makes it part of the narrative that led to the 1853 weight reduction. Every 1851 quarter that survived did so despite the economic incentive to melt it.