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Free Appraisal
1916 25C MS67 Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1143
| Lot: 3122 | Aug 15, 2010
Sold For:
$149,500.00
1916 25C MS67 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1216
| Lot: 4112 | Jan 12, 2015
Sold For:
$146,875.00
1916 25C MS66+ Full Head PCGS Secure. CAC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1258
| Lot: 3954 | Aug 6, 2017
Sold For:
$135,125.00
1928 25C MS67+ Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5767)
Auction 1333
| Lot: 3014 | Aug 22, 2021
Sold For:
$120,000.00
1916 25C MS67 Full Head NGC.
The 1916 Standing Liberty quarter is a curious issue. Few examples (in absolute terms) were set aside at the time of issue, making this a seldom-encountered date in all grades. However, because of the high prices this issue commands in all grades, it is generally available in major auctions, which makes it seem more available than it really is. In the ultimate grade of MS67, though, there can be no doubt about the rarity of the 1916 quarter. Heritage handles tens of millions of dollars in rare coins each year, and it has been five years since we have offered an MS67 1916 quarter for sale at public auction. Only six pieces have been certified as MS67 by the two major services--two by NGC and four by PCGS, and none are finer (5/05).
Much has been speculated about the redesign of the Type One Standing Liberty quarter. Most of that speculation centers around the alleged "indecency" of the exposed breast of Liberty, speculation that persists to this day. Novice historians (including Walter Breen) have tended to overstate the role of the Society for the Suppression of Vice in the redesign process. In reality, someone with considerably more political clout was responsible for the design change. On April 16, 1917, Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo had written to Representative William Ashbrook of Ohio in protest to the Type One quarter design. On April 30, Ashbrook introduced McAdoo's bill before Congress. The document called upon the Mint to modify the original design by increasing the concavity of the fields and repositioning the eagle with relation to the stars. To support this legislation, McAdoo asserted (albeit erroneously) that the Type One coins would not stack properly. This proposal became Public Law 27 on July 9, 1917 and specified that no major changes should be made to the design other than those specifically stated. Since the approved modifications would have had a definite effect on the stacking qualities of the quarters, why did the Mint
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 380
| Lot: 5562 | Jun 30, 2005
Sold For:
$97,750.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1327
| Lot: 3053 | Feb 23, 2021
Sold For:
$96,000.00
Make Offer to Owner
$110,400 or more
1920 25C MS67+ Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5735)
Auction 1333
| Lot: 3010 | Aug 22, 2021
Sold For:
$93,000.00
1916 25C MS 67 Full Head PCGS.
Few issues demonstrate the deleterious effect of political aspiration on coinage history better than the Type One Standing Liberty quarter. Pursuant to the Mint Act of September 26, 1890, the federal government began to take action in the mid-1910s with the desire to replace Charles E. Barber's quarter design. Following an open competition, the Treasury Department approved Hermon Atkins MacNeil's design on December 28, 1915. The usual refinement period, exacerbated by Barber's notorious lack of cooperation, chewed up the majority of the following year. Although the Philadelphia and Denver Mints had coined more than 8 million 1916-dated Barber quarters, the parent facility was apparently impressed enough with MacNeil's Standing Liberty motif to begin production as rapidly as possible. Accordingly, Mint employees coined a mere 52,000 1916 Standing Liberty quarters between December 16 and 31. Another 12,201,200 pieces followed from all three Mints in the first half of 1917. By the middle of the year, however, political forces had arrayed against MacNeil's groundbreaking design.
Numismatic scholars have shed much ink on the demise of the Type One Standing Liberty quarter. More often than not, Liberty's exposed breast has been cited as the reason behind the federal government's modification of MacNeil's original work. While this is essentially true, novice historians have tended to overstate the role of the Society for the Suppression of Vice in this process. In actuality, someone with considerably more political clout was stirring the coinage design cauldron. On April 16, 1917, Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo had written to Representative William Ashbrook of Ohio in protest to the Type One quarter design. On April 30, Ashbrook introduced McAdoo's bill before Congress. The document called upon the Mint to modify the original design by increasing the concavity of the fields and repositioning the eagle with relation to the stars. To support this asp
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 218
| Lot: 6689 | Jan 10, 2000
Sold For:
$89,125.00
1916 25C MS67 Full Head NGC.
The 1916 Standing Liberty quarter is a curious issue. Few examples (in absolute terms) were se...
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 434
| Lot: 2101 | May 10, 2007
Sold For:
$74,750.00
1929 25C MS67+ Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5773)
Auction 1376
| Lot: 4154 | Aug 18, 2024
Sold For:
$72,000.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1376
| Lot: 4142 | Aug 18, 2024
Sold For:
$69,000.00
1916 25C MS66+ Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1376
| Lot: 4141 | Aug 18, 2024
Sold For:
$66,000.00
1926 25C MS67 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5755)
Auction 1160
| Lot: 3963 | Oct 16, 2011
Sold For:
$63,250.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head NGC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1219
| Lot: 5042 | Apr 26, 2015
Sold For:
$56,400.00
1916 25C MS67 Full Head NGC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1143
| Lot: 3123 | Aug 15, 2010
Sold For:
$54,625.00
1916 25C MS67 Full Head NGC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1121
| Lot: 3801 | Jan 11, 2009
Sold For:
$54,625.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS Secure. CAC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1251
| Lot: 5619 | Jan 9, 2017
Sold For:
$54,050.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1216
| Lot: 4110 | Jan 12, 2015
Sold For:
$52,875.00
1921 25C MS67+ Full Head NGC. CAC.
(PCGS# 5741)
Auction 1190
| Lot: 33403 | Nov 15, 2013
Sold For:
$52,875.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1173
| Lot: 5130 | Aug 5, 2012
Sold For:
$52,875.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1271
| Lot: 4835 | Jan 8, 2018
Sold For:
$52,800.00
1921 25C MS67 Full Head PCGS Secure. CAC.
(PCGS# 5741)
Auction 1167
| Lot: 4031 | Feb 5, 2012
Sold For:
$51,750.00
1919 25C MS68 Full Head NGC.
In his reference on Standing Liberty quarters, J.H. Cline provides the diagnostics of full hea...
(PCGS# 5729)
Auction 434
| Lot: 2109 | May 10, 2007
Sold For:
$51,750.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
PCGS Population (9/4). NGC Census: (16/3). Mintage: 52,000. Numismedia Wsl. Price for NGC/PCG...
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 27042
| Lot: 11262 | Apr 10, 2007
Sold For:
$50,312.50
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1213
| Lot: 30450 | Jun 23, 2014
Sold For:
$49,937.50
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
The 1916 has long been considered the most desirable coin in the Standing Liberty series. It has the lowest official mintage, and its value and desirability was recognized shortly after striking. What is exceptional about this coin is the extraordinary state of preservation. It is essentially "as struck." The surfaces are bright with soft, frosted mint luster and there is just the lightest trace of color on each side. Sharply struck throughout. Regarding strike we feel it is necessary to repeat what specialists in this series have long known, and quote Jay Cline from 1986: "The hairstyle for the 1916 is slightly different than on the 1917 Ty. 1. The detail from the ear to the crown of her head is slightly lower and the hairlines fall in different directions. The accounts for some of the softness of the 1916's. Never have I seen a 1916 with a sharp full head like the 1917. The detail was never put on the die to the same degree. 1916's are characteristically softly struck on the shield as well. Just overall softness altogether."
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 352
| Lot: 6001 | Aug 21, 2004
Sold For:
$48,875.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1234
| Lot: 4641 | May 1, 2016
Sold For:
$48,175.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1344
| Lot: 3744 | May 8, 2022
Sold For:
$48,000.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
For many years Miss Doris Doscher, better known to millions as Miss Liberty, claimed that she posed for the provocative, bare-breasted figure of Liberty on designer Hermon MacNeil's Standing Liberty quarter--a figure that, in the words of expert and author Jay Cline (whose contributions we gratefully cadge here), " ... sent women into shock, children giggling and pointing, and men taking a second look at the exposed bust on the newly designed quarter." Miss Doscher, whose stage name was Doris Doree, as she "did some acting on Broadway," was a "longtime friend and tennis partner" of the MacNeil family. Miss Doscher posed for other leading sculptors of the time, as well, and starred in several silent movies.
However, in 1972,
one day
after the death of her mother, the daughter of one Mrs. Irene MacDowell wrote to Mrs. MacNeil (Hermon's widow), saying that Mrs. MacDowell was, in fact, the model for the quarter. Mrs. MacDowell, age 92, intimated to her family and closest friends shortly before her death that
she
had posed for Hermon MacNeil, over a total of 10 days. Mrs. MacDowell had also been a former Broadway actress, and was the wife of a tennis partner of Hermon MacNeil. Since her husband would have disapproved of her posing for MacNeil, she concluded that sole credit should go to Doris Doscher. While it is entirely possible, even probable, that
both
women posed for MacNeil, given the strict standards of the era, such a decision is unsurprising.
This example of the premier Standing Liberty quarter certainly portrays Mmes. Doscher and/or MacDowell in the most flattering light. Both sides are enriched by light gray-gold patina, further enhanced on the obverse by daubs of russet, lilac, and smoke-gray. While the 1916 is always softly struck in the head and shield, this lovely Premium Gem boasts as bold a strikein those areas as is ever found, and elsewhere the strike is impeccable. Soft, satiny luster emanates
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 414
| Lot: 5199 | Aug 14, 2006
Sold For:
$44,850.00
1918 25C MS68 Full Head PCGS.
Over the past several years we have been fortunate to be able to offer several of the nicest full head 1918 Standing Liberty Quarters yet certified. Glancing at the mintage of this third year issue, over 14 million pieces, one would tend to underestimate the scarcity of Gems with a full head designation. While we find Cline's estimate that only five percent of Mint State survivors are sharp enough to meet this criteria to be a bit on the low side, it is nevertheless surprisingly difficult, especially following the striking excellence of the 1917.
This truly extraordinary specimen brings all the attributes of a Superb Gem together into one highly lustrous, instantly appealing package. The strike is extremely bold right down to the rivets of the shield and both sides boast splendid pastel toning that lightens to a window of brilliance in the centers. Only a few trivial, nearly microscopic blemishes penetrate the mint frost of the otherwise pristine surfaces. A memorable 1918 Quarter for the finest set of this popular and beautiful 20th century series. Population: 1 in 68, 0 finer (5/03).
(PCGS# 5721)
Auction 328
| Lot: 7087 | Jul 30, 2003
Sold For:
$44,850.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1372
| Lot: 3046 | Feb 11, 2024
Sold For:
$44,400.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1372
| Lot: 3045 | Feb 11, 2024
Sold For:
$43,200.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1104
| Lot: 2294 | Apr 19, 2008
Sold For:
$43,125.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head NGC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1215
| Lot: 3166 | Nov 15, 2014
Sold For:
$41,125.00
Make Offer to Owner
$61,688 or more
1920 25C MS67 Full Head PCGS Secure.
(PCGS# 5735)
Auction 1167
| Lot: 4027 | Feb 5, 2012
Sold For:
$40,250.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1231
| Lot: 5348 | Jan 11, 2016
Sold For:
$39,950.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1225
| Lot: 3224 | Oct 29, 2015
Sold For:
$39,950.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1225
| Lot: 3225 | Oct 29, 2015
Sold For:
$39,950.00
1929 25C MS67+ Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5773)
Auction 1391
| Lot: 3063 | Mar 28, 2026
Sold For:
$39,040.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head NGC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1390
| Lot: 3091 | Jan 17, 2026
Sold For:
$39,040.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head NGC.
At the end of the 19th century, Mint Director James Putnam Kimball persuaded Senator Justin Morrill of Vermont to introduce a bill that would enable the Treasury Department to change coin designs after only twenty-five years. After the bill passed as the Act of September 26, 1890, the Treasury Department used it to replace Christian Gobrecht's hardy Liberty Seated quarter with Charles E. Barber's Liberty Head motif. Once again utilizing this act, the Treasury Department enacted a competition in 1915 that anticipated the expiration of the Barber quarter's statutory lease in 1917. Following an open competition during which Chief Engraver Barber cooperated as little as possible, the Treasury Department adopted Hermon MacNeil's design and revolutionized the Quarter Dollar.
The transitional year 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter is one of the most widely recognized rarities in 20th century U.S. numismatics. Only 52,000 pieces were struck of MacNeil's new design and surprisingly few were spared from circulation considering the radical change from the outgoing Barber coinage. Unlike the Type One Quarters that were mass-produced the following year, a good percentage of the Mint State survivors are lacking in strong highpoint definition. The Premium Gem offered here, while not quite as bold as its 1917 counterparts, displays above-average sharpness for this famous issue, and its bright matte-like surfaces are tinged in reddish-golden peripheral toning. One has to look closely to locate even the slightest blemish on either side. A real opportunity for the quality conscious Standing Liberty Quarter collector. Population: 16 in 66, 2 finer (8/04).
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 355
| Lot: 6419 | Sep 11, 2004
Sold For:
$38,525.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head NGC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1385
| Lot: 3105 | Aug 31, 2025
Sold For:
$38,400.00
1929 25C MS67+ Full Head PCGS. CAC.
(PCGS# 5773)
Auction 1333
| Lot: 3016 | Aug 22, 2021
Sold For:
$38,400.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head PCGS Secure.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1167
| Lot: 4006 | Feb 5, 2012
Sold For:
$37,375.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head NGC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 1116
| Lot: 1950 | Sep 21, 2008
Sold For:
$37,375.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head NGC.
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 444
| Lot: 1665 | Aug 12, 2007
Sold For:
$37,375.00
1916 25C MS66 Full Head NGC.
Seemingly everything conspired to make the 1916 quarter one of the premier rarities in 20th century American numismatics. It was the first year of issue for a new design by an accomplished sculptor, it had a very low mintage, and was not saved in significant numbers as the public's attention was focused on possible American involvement the European conflict. This is one of the finest examples known of this rarity, and it is almost perfectly preserved. Thick mint luster covers each side and the surfaces display deep, speckled, multicolored toning of unquestionable originality with significant underlying mint brilliance on the obverse. An exceptional, high grade 1916 quarter. Population: 15 in 66, 2 finer (4/04).
(PCGS# 5705)
Auction 349
| Lot: 6068 | Jun 5, 2004
Sold For:
$37,375.00
1917 25C Type Two MS67+ Full Head PCGS.
(PCGS# 5715)
Auction 1383
| Lot: 3178 | May 4, 2025
Sold For:
$37,200.00
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