1796 25C Draped Bust Quarter Dollar, Small Eagle PCGS XF45 - Great rarity and one-year type!

This offering is a great rarity, a one-year type, and the first ever of its kind. This was the first ever United States quarter dollar, and it took eight years for the second issue of this denomination to be produced. PCGS has graded 12 in XF45, with 96 finer.

David Hall writes, "The 1796 quarter was the first U.S. quarter. It is also a one year only type coin...Draped Bust, small eagle...and the only U.S. quarter struck in the 18th century. This is a rare coin in all grades. However, it is available in mint state condition since in the early part of the 20th century coin collector/hoarder extraordinaire Col. E. H. R. Green acquired a hoard of as many as 100 uncirculated specimens."

Col. E.H.R. Green, who hoarded around 100 of this issue in mint state condition.

Numismatic scholar P. Scott Rubin writes, "Let us not think that this makes this coin common, even with a more than expected survival rate this coin is not available in numbers that would appease the collectors who wish to own one today. Only to collectors with ample resources is this coin available. Only twenty to forty-five quarters of 1796 have been offered at auction in any of the last ten years in any grade. In the same time period only two to seven coins graded Uncirculated were offered per year. More historic research tends to show that on average since the mid-1850’s this coin appears on average of fifteen times a year in all grades and only two coins a year in Uncirculated at auction. This is why this one year type coin commands high prices."