Silver quarters (1964 and earlier)

How to read it

Washington quarters, John Flanagan’s design for Washington’s 200th birthday in 1932, were 90% silver and 10% copper from 1932 to 1964; Q. David Bowers notes on PCGS CoinFacts that none were minted in 1933. The Coinage Act of 1965 replaced the silver in dimes and quarters with a clad coin, copper-nickel faces on a copper core. NGC says the Act was passed amid a coin shortage caused by hoarding as demand for silver surged; the Mint’s release of December 1965 puts it down to a growing world silver shortage. The Act let the Mint go on striking 90% silver coins for a time, but only dated 1964, and PCGS says 1964-dated silver coins were struck until January 1966.

Also searched as: 1964 quarter, 90% silver quarter, silver quarter.

Silver or clad: the edge and the date

The US Mint’s Coin Classroom says the copper core of a clad quarter shows at the edge. A 90% silver quarter has no copper layer, so its edge is the same colour as its faces. The date settles it as well: under the Act, every 90% silver quarter is dated 1964 or earlier. See the 1965 quarter.

Why they left circulation

PCGS says the Treasury used the weight difference between silver and clad coins in 1967 to pull its stock of silver coins out of circulation, and a 1968 letter to the President on the Joint Commission on the Coinage records regulations banning the unauthorized melting and export of US silver coins.