THE 1853 NO ARROWS OR RAYS QUARTER

 

1853 Liberty Seated Quarter. No Arrows or Rays. Briggs 1-A, FS-301. Repunched Date. VF-35 (PCGS).

While 44,200 coins were struck and delivered in two batches on February 7 and 19, 1853, it is likely that many were quickly melted after the new weight standard was enacted on February 21. All were struck from a single die pair, the obverse bearing strongly repunched date digits, 53. Years ago this was referred to as another 1853/2 variety, a tradition that remains in use for the gold denominations with similar die cutting anomalies.

W. Elliot Woodward reflected upon this rare quarter dollar in the 1885 sale of the J. Colvin Randall Collection: "The discovery of the quarter dollar is due to an interesting incident which occurred in this way; a broker was weighing a quantity of silver coins; the weight was found to surpass, by a number of grains, the value of the coins by count. After repeatedly weighing and counting, critical examination revealed the fact that one of the quarters weighed several grains more than any of the others, and gave to collectors a variety hitherto unknown. Diligent search, carefully continued for many years, has added to the piece first discovered possibly a dozen examples, -- I think not more."

To read the complete item description, see:
1853 Liberty Seated Quarter. No Arrows or Rays. Briggs 1-A, FS-301. Repunched Date. VF-35 (PCGS). (https://www.stacksbowers.com/pages/lotinfo.aspx?LotId=1623541)

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