1945-D

Denver struck 12,341,600 quarters in 1945, a step down from the 14.6 million 1944-D total and the smallest Denver output of the wartime stretch. The coin carries the D 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 quarter denomination held the full silver standard throughout the war while the cent moved to zinc-coated steel for 1943 and the five-cent piece carried the silver-manganese-copper alloy from late 1942 through the end of 1945. That continuity makes this issue and its 1942 through 1945 Denver siblings the standard silver entries in any wartime denomination set.

Strike quality on the coin reflects the wartime production realities. Denver dies pressed through long runs, and softness on Washington's hair above the ear and on the eagle's breast feathers appears on a substantial portion of the output; well-struck pieces with full central detail are noticeably scarcer than raw population numbers suggest. Authentication concerns are moderate. The standard 1945-D is not heavily counterfeited, but the D mintmark should sit cleanly punched and properly aligned below the wreath, with no tooling marks around its perimeter; added-mintmark fakes converting higher-mintage Philadelphia 1945 coins into branch-mint issues are a persistent low-grade risk. No major DDO has been catalogued for the 1945-D at the FS-101 level, but examination under five-to-ten-power magnification remains the standard approach for any wartime Washington. 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 plentiful in circulated grades and through MS64, with a meaningful drop in availability at MS66 and above. Year-set and short-set builders treat the 1945-D as a routine acquisition; the lower mintage relative to the year's Philadelphia output supports a small premium in higher Mint State grades. Population reports at PCGS show the issue is common up through gem, then condition-rare in superb gem with full strike. For the broader story of John Flanagan's design and the series' production arc, see the Washington Quarter series history.