Minted to the extent of only 52,000 pieces, the 1916 quarter dollar represents the first year of the new design by Hermon A. MacNeil, one of several sculptors who designed coins during the decade. The design with Miss Liberty having one breast exposed was modified in 1917, when she was encased in a jacket of armor.
Here at Stack’s Bowers Galleries the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter has been a favorite for many years. How many we have offered at auction since our founding in 1933 (first auction was in 1935), and how many at private sale, we have no way of knowing. Many hundreds for sure—and possibly over a thousand. Many of these have been old friends—bought from us, then sold or consigned when a numismatist’s interests change.
An interesting discussion of this elusive coin is found in Dave Bowers’ popular More Adventures with Rare Coins book and is adapted here.
Illustrious New Designs of 1916
The year 1916 brought with it a sweeping reform in American silver coinage. The Liberty Head designs of Charles E. Barber, used since 1892, were replaced by motifs designed by sculptors in the private sector. Hermon A. MacNeil was tapped to design the Standing Liberty quarter, while Adolph A. Weinman created the ‘Mercury’ dime and the Liberty Walking half dollar. For the first time in American coinage, the dime, quarter, and half dollar were issued in designs that were not related to each other in common design forms. In contrast, earlier issues of these denominations shared motifs of Barber’s Liberty Head, the preceding Liberty Seated, and earlier Capped Bust and Draped Bust motifs, and other designs. Making its debut in 1916, the Standing Liberty series was produced continually from that point through 1930, with the exception of 1922. No quarter dollars were made in 1931, and when mintage was resumed in 1932, the Washington motif, first intended as a commemorative, became the standard. Thus, the Standing Liberty quarter faded from the American scene.
Today, most varieties of Standing Liberty quarters are highly collectible, the two notable rarities—and these are not “impossible”—being the 1916, the topic of the present article, and the 1918/7-S overdate. I have always enjoyed the series, and when in the course of business a nice collection of these quarters comes our way, I pause to reflect upon each coin and appreciate the design all over again.
The story of Hermon A. MacNeil’s creation of this design is capably told by J.H. Cline in his appropriately titled book, Standing Liberty Quarters. Young Dora Doscher, a friend of sculptor MacNeil was the model for the coin. On the screen as Miss Doris Doree, the multi-talented Miss Doscher was also seen on the Broadway stage, and posed in the studios of several artists and sculptors. J.H. Cline commented, “Many interesting chapters could be written about Miss Dora Doscher in association with the MacNeil family.” Married, she was later known as Doris Doscher Baum.
A long time later in 1972 another contender stepped forward, Mrs. Irene MacDowell, who claimed that it was she who did the modeling. However, by this time the artist, Hermon MacNeil, had long since died, and few numismatists put any stock in the MacDowell claim.
A Design Switcheroo
The Standing Liberty quarter series commences with the 1916, with a low mintage of 52,000 pieces. One would normally expect that many would have been saved as a novelty as the first year of issue, and pieces would be rather plentiful. Exactly what happened is not clear, but probably as the 1916 quarter was produced very late in the year, and as the 1917-dated examples of the same type were made in large numbers, most of the public demand was probably absorbed by the more numerous 1917 pieces. The 1916 was elusive from the outset.
In 1917 the mintage of the Standing Liberty quarter was expanded to include production at all three active mints—Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco. Part way through the year the design was changed.
On the first version of the design, as used in 1916 and early 1917, Miss Liberty was shown with an exposed right breast. The revised motif included, among other things, Miss Liberty encased in a suit of mail—certainly a classic case of overcompensation. The reverse was modified as well, and now the eagle was depicted with three stars below it.
For a long time it was stated that the change in Miss Liberty’s dress was in response to public outrage against nudity. This makes a nice story, and it is one that was widely believed—including by the present writer—until some investigation was conducted. Checking into the matter, neither I nor anyone else has been able to come across any contemporary (1917) commentary, complaint, or anything else suggesting that the public objected to the nude aspect of Miss Liberty.
Instead, the design seems to have been changed by MacNeil for other reasons, possibly to indicate preparedness for the World War (which had been raging in Europe since 1914). One might say that the first design showed America personified as an Amazon, guarding the portal of Liberty, and that the second design showed her in an armed, defensive posture.
The modified design made its appearance part way through 1917. Almost immediately, problems arose with the sharpness of striking. While nearly all 1917 quarters of the early or Type I design have sharp details on the head of Miss Liberty, the Type II or modified issues do not. From then through the end of the series there were continuing difficulties with having the pieces strike up fully.
In 1925 a slight modification was made to the date position, but still the problem of striking sharpness continued. Today, numismatists assess the sharpness of the head of Miss Liberty, calling particularly sharp pieces “Full Head” or some high fraction such as “90% Full Head.” Or, at least this is what should happen, but often does not. Certified “Full Head” quarters of the 1920s usually have part of the head flat and range from perhaps 70% full to 90% full. In addition, the two lower left rivets on the shield are often weak or missing, and the raised emblem at the center of the shield is often poorly defined. Numismatics needs a re-evaluation. Is there such a thing as a 1926-D quarter with Full Details (sharp everything?). Maybe so, but probably no. On the other hand, certified “Full Head” 1926-D can be bought easily.
Numismatics and the 1916 Quarter
Only 52,000 1916 Standing Liberty quarters were struck, this figure being far and away the lowest production quantity for any regular coin in that design series.
The low mintage was not widely publicized in 1916-1917, and the public was not alerted to the scarcity of the 1916. There were no popular coin books that gave mintages, and not many collectors made the effort to get a copy of The Annual Report of the Director of the Mint. Mintage figures were routinely published in The Numismatist, but not much attention was paid to them. The “low mintage syndrome” in the hobby was still more than a decade away.
Apparently, nearly all 1916 quarters of the new design slipped unobtrusively into circulation. Although contemporary numismatists were alerted to the new motif, and many sought an example of the type, there was very little interest in assembling sets by date and mintmark sequence. This latter discipline did not become popular until the 1930s when Wayte Raymond launched the Standard Catalogue of U.S. Coins (1934) and in the same decade published a popular series of “National” coin album pages.
By the 1920s the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter dollar was recognized as being scarce by the few who were interested. In Mint State such pieces were particularly hard to find. Henry Chapman (the Philadelphia dealer) and John Zug (who conducted his highly successful mail order business from a barn on his homestead in Bowie, Maryland) maintained a small supply, but examples were lacking in most other dealers’ stocks. Abe Kosoff in a Coin World article, April 12, 1967, suggested that William L. Pukall had put away several rolls of these coins in 1916 and started selling them years later, apparently dispersing them all by the 1940s. Having had quite a few dealings with Pukall in the 1950s (but none involving 1916 quarters), I can say that Kosoff’s narrative is no doubt true, for Pukall had hundreds of certain 20th century coins, including Matte Proof Lincoln cents and Buffalo nickels still in the tissue wrappers of issue.
Today the fame of the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter is widespread, and it immediately comes to mind whenever 20th century rarities are mentioned. In fact, it is hard to believe that it was not a sensation in its own time—in 1916, when it first saw the light of day.
Question: I wonder if you have ever come across an old-time advertisement that listed a price for a half cent, such as 3½ cents? What exactly was the usefulness of the half cent? There must have been some transactions that involved them because a great number of them are well worn. G.S.
