1875 25C Liberty Seated Quarter Dollar PCGS PR63

Here’s a rare beauty to include in your collection. Plus, in its assigned grade of PR63, it is more affordable. Only 700 of the proof 1875 Seated Liberty quarters were struck at the Philadelphia Mint. PCGS has graded 32 as PR63 with 52 finer. Collectors Universe prices this issue at $1,075.00 in PR63.

Christian Gobrecht, who is credited with creating the popular Seated Liberty design. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Today, many collectors believe that the Seated Liberty design was solely the work of U.S. Mint Engraver Christian Gobrecht. That motif, however, represented a blending of sketches created by artists Thomas Sully and Titian Peale. They, in turn, were based on a concept by U.S. Mint Director Robert M. Patterson, who was inspired by English and French depictions of the allegorical figure, especially Britannia on British coinage.

Additionally, Robert Ball Hughes was brought in to make adjustments to the design. Writes Don Taxay in his 1966 book The U.S. Mint and Coinage, “In 1840, the Director commissioned the eminent Anglo-American sculptor Robert Ball Hughes to perfect the device, and the artist complied by lowering the relief, refining the proportions and dynamics of the figure, and adding a graceful fold of drapery from the right elbow.”