1889 $2.50 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle NGC MS62

Even though it had a mintage of only 17,600, the 1889 quarter eagle is available today from circulated grades up to the lower end of mint state. However, it becomes scarce in MS64 and rare in MS65 and above. NGC has graded 114 as MS62 with 126 finer. Collector’s Universe prices this issue at $1,000.00 in MS62.

The Second Philadelphia Mint, where this piece was struck in 1889. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The long-lasting durability of the Liberty Head design on the quarter eagle was unmatched in U.S. numismatic history until it was passed by the Roosevelt dime. This makes the Liberty quarter eagle the second longest uninterrupted use of a coin motif without a major design alteration.  When this issue was first struck in 1840, much of the United States was a rough and ready frontier, with millions of bison roaming the Great Plains.

When the final Coronet quarter eagles were minted in 1907, an amazing 67 years later, America was a very different nation than it had been in 1840. The rugged individualism that characterized 19th century America's national spirit remained, but it became a more mature nation, one that made its powerful economic and military presence known around the world.