Valuable Quarters Worth Money
Over the last couple of centuries, the United States Mint has made billions of different quarters through different designs and mints. Of these billions of quarters, many of them have been taken out of circulation and kept due to coin collectors, known as numismatists, finding their value and setting them aside. You may also have some quarters sitting aside, but the likely chance they are valuable is fairly low. Here is a guide to the top 15 rarest quarters worth money today in 2024. These quarters are often rare due to their low mintage numbers and historical significance, rather than having mint errors. Silver quarters are quarters produced in 1964 and Prior, which all have some value as they are traded in relation to face value, which can be tracked using the 90% conversion on our 90% Quarters sell link.
18th Century Quarters (Draped Bust)
Throughout the late 18th century, the United States started to produce coinage in association with the Coinage Acts of 1795, which allowed for the production of the 1796 Draped Bust Quarters, which featured the "small eagle" design on the reverse of the coin. Today, these coins are very rare and seldom seen, making them some of the most valuable quarters in existence. These coins do not have mintmarks since they were all produced at the original Philadephia Mint.
#1 1796 Draped Bust Quarter "Small Eagle": $200k-$2.5m+
The earliest known United States quarter happens to be one of the most valuable US coins in existence, clocking in at almost $2.5 Million in Gem Mint State Condition. It is said that less than 650 examples still exist of these valuable coins. This is one of the only coins on this list that is nearly 6 figures in any condition and is a true rarity to coin collecting experts.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
19th Century Quarters (Draped Bust, Capped Bust, Seated Liberty and Barber)
Starting in the 19th century, the draped bust quarter series was coming to an end, making an appearance for just 7 more years, using the Heraldic design on the reverse of the coin. Soon after, the Capped Bust quarter design was introduced but produced in very limited quantities. Due to the relatively large diameter of the Capped Bust quarter, and numerous silver shortages between the 1810's and 1830's, the coins were to not be produced any longer. The United States Mint still felt a gap in coinage during the late 1830s and 1840s and decided to enact the Seated Liberty coinage series, one of the longest-lasting to date, which was very popular before and after the silver war. It should also be noted that this was when the motto "In God we trust" was placed on all coinage, and external mints such as the New Orleans Mint, San Francisco Mint, and Carson City Mint began minting coins within the series. Proof Coins also became more common as part of a growing wave of coin collectors during the last half of the century would pay premiums for highly polished, specially minted coins to build sets with.
#2 1804 Draped Bust Quarter "Heraldic Eagle": $5k-200k+
1804 is a historic and storied year for all coinage, with the 1804 Draped Bust Dollar being at the forefront. Shadowed not too far behind the King of Dollars, is the 1804 Quarter is a vintage rarity and often considered one of the more difficult coins to locate in the series. Most examples are known in low and damaged condition, but higher grades can demand upwards of six figures.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
#3 1823/2 Capped Bust Quarter (30 Known): $50k-250k+
The 1823/2 Capped Bust Quarter is one of the most difficult pieces to locate in the entire series, with only 30 known examples to have ever surfaced, and only 20 of them are graded. These coins came out during a hard time for the United States mint, where little to no coinage was ever produced due to silver shortages.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
#4 1873-CC Seated Liberty with Arrows (50 Known): $50k-250k+
The 1873-CC Seated Liberty with Arrows marks one of the last Carson City quarters that was produced in the history of coinage, with the very sought-after "with arrows" by date, a short-lived type. Due to a large silver shortage in the early 1870's all Carson City minted coinage Pre-1874 is incredibly low mintage and makes this quarter worth almost $50k in all grades, with very nice examples ranging into the hundreds of thousands of dollars range.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
20th Century Quarters (Barber, Standing Liberty, and Washington)
The 20th century has some strong designs, coming off the back of the Barber series, then flowing into the standing liberty quarter, and finally resting upon the Washington Quarter, which is one of the longest-lasting series of all time. Starting in the Mid-20th century, silver coinage became a thing of the past, creating a melt value for all coins dated prior to 1964, which became known as "Junk Silver". These Junk silver coins are traded regardless of their date or mint mark, for silver melt value, which can be tracked on Pure.
#5 1901-S Barber Quarter: $5k-1M+
The 1901-S is considered to be the King of the 20th-century rarities for silver coinage, and rightfully so. There are very few examples minted of the 1901-S quarter, with just less than 78,000 struck originally. Now, most coins are low grade and are non-existent finds for album collectors. Some incredible gem examples are known and are thought to have been purchased from the San Francisco Mint directly since their condition is near perfect (MS-67+ and MS-68).
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
#6 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter: $5k-100K+
The 1916 Standing Liberty Quarters are very difficult to come by, being one of the rarest quarters that exist, and often confused for the Type 1 Standing Liberty Quarter which has a very similar design, before the change in 1919. Low grades are much more common than higher grades, which get extremely difficult with Full Head designations (FH). There are still examples of these that have surfaced as rare quarters have been hunted in Junk Bins and in local coin shops throughout coin collecting.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
#7 & #8 1932 D Washington Quarter and 1932 S Washington Quarter: $75-1k+
The first year of issue for the new Washington Quarters proved to be the sole key date for the branch mints of Denver and San Francisco. The 1932-S Washington Quarters are a tad bit rarer than the 1932-D counterpart but trade between $75-125 in low condition, and upwards to $5,000 in gem condition.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
Common Quarters that are not worth money:
Below is a list of fairly common pocket changes that people often ask if these are worth any money or not. Sadly, as much as you would love to strike it rich finding a rare quarter in your pocket change, the odds are quite low, especially when what you have in hand is a group of bicentennial quarters.
Bicentennial Quarters 1776-1976: Common
Commonly mistaken for a quarter being produced in 1776, the 1976 Bicentennial quarter is one of the most common quarters ever produced, with more than 250 million circulating to this date. People often confuse this for a quarters worth money because it has a different reverse than most normal quarters. The Bicentennial quarter is cool, however it is not better than pocket change.
1965 Quarters: Common
1965 Quarter just barely missed the cut-off date for being silver, making them quite common despite being readily hoarded by non-coin collectors.
1967 Quarters: Common
Similar to the 1965 Quarters, 1967 are often thought to be silver due to the 40% Kennedy Half Dollars that were produced from 1965-1967, sadly this however did not carry over into the Quarters denomination.
2023 Quarters: Common
Similar to the Bicentennial quarter, the 2023 quarters were a one-year type, honoring women in America, as well as George Washington crossing the Delaware. These are also no better than pocket change and can be found quite easily at your local banks.
21st Century Quarters Modern Quarters (Washington)
In the 21st century, (2000-2024), there have been a couple of different iterations of the Washington Quarter design, all of which have changes to their reverse, and obverse in 2023. Starting in 1999, the 50 State Quarters series began, landmarking a new generation of younger collectors that would fill state quarter books with all 50 states. Of the 50 states, only one very rare quarter surfaced, The 2004-D Wisconsin extra leaf quarter. There are also examples of mint error coins including the 2005-P Minnesota Quarter, however, the 2005-P Minnesota Quarter error is not widely recognized as a major variety and will be kept off this list. The 2005-P Minnesota Quarters is known under the variety FS-801 DDR-001, or more commonly known as the "Extra Tree" error.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
#9 2004 D Extra Leaf Wisconsin Quarter: $100-150+
There are two different varieties of the 2004-D Wisconsin State Quarter that make it particularly rare. On the reverse of the coin, the corn stock features a hanging leaf, which the Denver mint addressed as having an "extra high leaf" or "extra low leaf", making a special variety of this coin. This variety can only be found in coins of the Denver mint, with the D mint mark on the obverse, and currently trades in mint condition for $100-$150 each! The "Extra High Leaf" is often considered the rarer variety despite not being apart of the mint errors of the series.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
#10 2020-W V75 Privy Series: $40+
In late 2019, the United States Mint announced that the West Point branch would produce Washington quarters with a V75 Privy, a small mark of the rainbow pool in Washington DC, to be stamped randomly on the newly released the George Washington Quarter. Many coin collectors and coin roll hunters found these coins with the W mint marks and soon noticed the V75 privy, giving way to a new generation of collectors. The counterparts of the 2020-S Proof Washington Quarter did not feature the V75 privy.
Image: PCGS TrueView, Collectors Universe inc.
Thanks very much for reading!