1892 25C Barber Quarter PCGS PR65CAM

“The quality of the Proof 1892 Barber Quarters is excellent”: Ron Guth

Here’s a beauty with attractive cameo contrast that will be an elegant addition to your collection. The year 1892 saw employees at the Philadelphia Mint strike quarters that carried the design crafted by Charles E. Barber. Production was significantly higher than that of 1891, for both business strike and proofs for collectors, due to heightened collector demand for the new type. The total mintage of proof quarters that year was 1,245, a figure that surpassed proof quarter production of all previous years.

Painting of Charles E. Barber, who designed and engraved the Barber quarter, half dollar, and dime series. Image courtesy of the family of Charles Barber via Wikimedia Commons.

Numismatic scholar and art critic Cornelius Vermeule writes that, "Liberty's cap, incised diadem, and wreath of laurel were designed to echo all the depth and volume of her Olympian countenance … On both sides the simple dignity of motto, legend, and denomination binds the pictorialism into a cohesive tondo. The wealth of irregular surfaces and sharp angles is an almost electrifying aesthetic experience .... specimens [are] a pleasure to contemplate. The sculptor was unsurpassed in the mechanics of creating a durable design of monumental validity."