1942-S

San Francisco struck 19,384,000 quarters in 1942, an output that placed the issue ahead of the 1942-D's 17.5 million but well behind the year's massive Philadelphia run. The coin carries the S mintmark on the reverse below the wreath, the standard branch-mint location for Washington quarters through 1964. Composition remained 90% silver and 10% copper, a 6.25-gram blank yielding .1808 ounces of actual silver weight. The Mint pulled silver from the five-cent piece in late 1942 to support the war effort and shifted the cent to zinc-coated steel for 1943, but the quarter denomination retained its full silver standard throughout the wartime years, which is why this issue and its sister 1942-S coins of other denominations command numismatic interest beyond their straight bullion content.

Strike quality on the coin is the issue collectors talk about. San Francisco wartime production ran hard, dies stayed in the press longer than ideal, and the typical 1942-S shows softness on Washington's hair above the ear and on the eagle's breast feathers. Original-skin examples with full luster and crisp central detail are meaningfully scarcer than the population numbers suggest. Examine the date and motto under five-to-ten-power magnification for any hub doubling, since wartime San Francisco produced a separate 1943-S Doubled Die Obverse the following year and collectors hunt the same period closely; on the standard 1942-S, no major DDO has been catalogued at the FS-101 level. Counterfeit pressure is moderate. The S mintmark should sit cleanly punched below the wreath, properly aligned, with no tooling marks around its perimeter; added-mintmark fakes converting Philadelphia coins into branch-mint issues remain the chief authentication concern. Buy certified through PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, or NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, for any raw example trading above modest money.

The coin is available in circulated grades and through MS63 without effort, with the supply tightening rapidly at MS65 and above due to the strike-quality realities of San Francisco wartime production. Year-set builders and short-set collectors treat the issue as a routine acquisition until they aim for gem; superb gems with full strike are condition-rare. For the broader story of John Flanagan's design and the series' production arc, see the Washington Quarter series history.