So any of you who collect standing liberty quarters . . . please educate me (if I can be educated ). A few years ago I decided to put together a mint state type set going back to the liberty seated era. Among all those series of coins, the standing liberty quarter was by far the most difficult for me to find a really nice, high-end, example with good eye appearl at a reasonable price. It was much easier for me to find Barber quarters or liberty seated quarters than standing liberty quarters in the kind of condition and with the kind of eye appeal that I was seeking. The next most difficult was liberty seated halves . . . but those are also much older than the SLQs. Do you think that my observation agrees with your experience, or am I off base? And if you agree, why is that the case? It seems to be an extremely busy design, and in all of my looking, the vast majority of coins seemed to be weakly struck. Is that it? Or is/are there some other reason(s)? I have been curious about this since working on the type set . . . and I'm still not all that thrilled with the standing liberty in that set (kind of sticks out like a sore thumb) and would like to replace it without breaking the bank. So that triggered me to seek answers from the knowledgeable and experts here. Any thoughts? TIA!
I'm not huge on SLQ's but most of the MS pieces I see happen to have weak strike, with the vast majority being MS63; meanwhile barber quarters and Seated libs are almost always well struck. The SLQ is a very busy design as you mentioned and has a more dramatic relief than Seateds/Barbers. I think that's a fair assumption to why they're more weak in strike.
I enjoy the SQL design, but really hard to find attractive examples. Also, to find Barbers of whatever denomination with something more than a worn flat face with no trace of LIBERTY gets pricey. I have the 1/4 oz standing liberty gold piece.
It’s hard to answer your question because you haven’t divulged either the grade range or price range for you intended acquisition. Additionally, you haven’t specified if you want FH (Full Head) or not, and you haven’t said which Type you want, T1, T2, or T3. Most people assembling a type set are looking for gem grade coins for their collection. While gem grade SLQ’s are more expensive, they are also easier to find attractive. For example, The SLQ as a series is brutally difficult to assemble, but acquiring a type coin shouldn’t be that difficult as long as you stick to the common dates in MS65. May I ask where you have been searching?
Here is an article I wrote some time ago on Standing Liberty Quarters. Maybe you can add to your knowledge from it. Any and all comments are welcome. Gary
As @Lehigh96 noted, it's hard to answer your inquiries without knowing a bit more about your budget and target grades. If you are patient, you can find examples of all three types in the $500 to $900 range and quite nicely struck. Often the price differential between an MS64 and MS65 coin are significant, and there are MS64 examples to be had that are just as nice if not nicer than some MS65 coins. If you go for monsters like @Lehigh96 posted (1924-D, NGC MS67, toned), you will spend a LOT of money on type set examples. It lists at $1700 in the price guide, but you'll pay a significant premium over guide for eye appeal and toning like that. Below are my type set coins. Type 1 (PCGS MS64FH): Type 2 (PCGS MS64FH, CAC): Type 3 (PCGS MS66, CAC):
David Lange did a series of articles in The Numismatist probably at least 20 years ago on assembling the ultimate 20th century type set. I'll have to see if I can find it sometime, but one of the things emphasized was picking dates and mints that tended to look really good in terms of luster, strike, and details. (Yes, strike and details are different things.) For the SLQ, you need three coins. The best Type 1 to get is easily the 1917. These are probably the sharpest for the entire series, as they are fully struck and the hubs aren't worn. The Type 2 redesign screwed up the relief just enough to result in poor detail at the head. 1917, 20, 23, and 24 might be your best bets for a lustrous, well-struck coin. 1917 has an advantage of being a fresh hub. 1923 can come with great luster. The Type 3 that comes most often with a full strike is 1930, but it is also the last use of the hub and may have lost a little detail that is present on a 1925 or 26, also common fully struck. Be aware, of course, that the FH designation is a binary (yes/no) designation on a very continuous strike spectrum. There are nearly fully struck coins that don't get a huge price bump for lack of the designation, and there are barely fully struck coins that don't deserve the price bump of a hammered one.
Bowers has also written several articles about collecting the SLQs, as well as a book on them. Finding and reading those may also help you in your efforts and understanding.
I find lots of nice SLQs on eBay and dealer sites, but they often have prices I find too high. Look at the NGC-graded MS65 1924-S on Empire Coins site. The $1,625 they want is a good price, but I'm working on a PCGS Registry Set.
