1944-S

San Francisco struck 12,560,000 quarters in 1944, the smallest of the three 1944 issues and a step down from the 1943-S total of 21.7 million. The coin carries the S mintmark on the reverse below the wreath, the standard branch-mint location through 1964. Composition remained 90% silver and 10% copper, a 6.25-gram blank yielding .1808 ounces of actual silver weight. The quarter denomination kept its full silver standard throughout the war while the cent moved to zinc-coated steel for 1943 and the five-cent piece carried the wartime silver-manganese-copper alloy from late 1942 through 1945, so the issue and its 1944-D sister are the standard branch-mint silver entries for the year's denomination set.

Strike quality on the coin is uneven, the typical pattern for San Francisco wartime production. Dies pressed through long production runs, and softness on Washington's hair above the ear and on the eagle's breast feathers is the norm rather than the exception. Original-skin examples with full luster and crisp central detail are meaningfully scarcer than the population numbers suggest, particularly in the higher Mint State grades. Examine the date and motto under five-to-ten-power magnification before assuming you have a standard 1944-S, since the wartime San Francisco mintmark window produced one famous DDO the prior year and a careful look is part of the routine. On this issue, no major DDO has been catalogued at the FS-101 level, but die-marker awareness applies. 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 are the chief authentication concern. Buy certified through PCGS, the Professional Coin Grading Service, or NGC, the Numismatic Guaranty Company, on any raw example trading above modest money.

The coin is available in circulated grades and through MS63 without effort, with supply tightening rapidly at MS65 and above due to the strike-quality realities of wartime production. The lower mintage relative to the year's other issues supports a small but consistent premium in higher Mint State grades. Year-set builders 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.