1921 Standing Liberty Quarter

Along with the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter, the 1921 issue is among the scarcest of coins in the series designed by Hermon A. MacNeil. Another similarity between the 1916 and 1921 Standing Liberty quarters is that they both were only struck at the Philadelphia mint – a situation that greatly hampered the production of a large amount of coins. Only 1,916,000 quarters were struck in 1921, though that number is far greater still than the tiny mintage of 52,000 for the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter.

Why were so few 1921 quarters minted? There was a slight recession in the early 1920s that reduced the need for many coins to be struck, but also the United States Mint was primarily concerned with striking tens of millions of silver dollars under provisions of the Pittman Act of 1918 which authorized the melting of 350 million silver dollars and the replacement of the coins melted.

As is the case with all Standing Liberty quarters, you should pay special attention to buying well-struck specimens that exhibit good detail and nice overall eye appeal. Finding these attributes among 1921 quarters will prove difficult given the relatively small pool of available specimens to begin with. However, your efforts will reward you with a beautiful piece that you can be proud to own.

No Standing Liberty quarters were minted in 1922.