1866-S Seated Liberty Quarter, With Motto
Circulation strike struck at the San Francisco Mint · 28,000 made
- Mintage
- 28,000
- Metal
- 90% silver, 10% copper
- Weight
- 6.22 g
- Diameter
- 24.3 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1866-S Seated Liberty Quarter, With Motto worth?
Few coins in the series are harder to find. Even a worn 1866-S sells well above face value. The flip side is that counterfeits and altered dates are common, so authentication matters.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1866-S Seated Liberty Quarter, With Motto rare?
- Yes. Only 28,000 were made, 21st lowest of the 108 regular issues in the series.
- Is the 1866-S Seated Liberty Quarter, With Motto silver?
- Yes. It's 90% silver, 10% copper and holds 0.1800 troy ounces of pure silver.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1866 Seated Liberty Quarter?
- On the reverse, below the eagle. Philadelphia quarters have no mint mark. On this coin the mark is S, for San Francisco.
- Which San Francisco dates near 1866 are scarcer?
- The 1864-S at 20,000. So the 1866-S is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1866-S Seated Liberty Quarter, With Motto coins were made?
- 28,000.
What to check on your 1866-S
- Make sure the mint mark really is an S. A worn or filled mark can be misread. It's what separates your coin from the 1866 (16,800 made).
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Don't clean it. Cleaning leaves fine scratches and an unnatural shine that collectors avoid.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1866 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof, With Motto (725 made) is the one to compare with.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. The word LIBERTY on Liberty's shield is the classic test: fully visible in Fine, partly worn in Very Good, gone in Good.
Never clean it. Collectors pay strong premiums for original surfaces and natural toning on a date like this. A cleaned coin can lose half its value or more. Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the mint mark and date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1866-S
San Francisco made 28,000 in 1866, down from 41,000 in 1865. The next year it made 48,000 (1867-S).
1866 came to 16,800, so neither mint's 1866 coin is much scarcer than the other. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1868 (29,400) and the 1871-S (30,900).
Only the 1864-S has a lower mintage among San Francisco's 24 Seated Liberty Quarters. Within the 1860s it's 5th smallest of 20, between the 1867 (20,000) and the 1868 (29,400).
IN GOD WE TRUST joins the reverse (1866 to 1872)
In 1866 the motto IN GOD WE TRUST was added on a ribbon above the eagle. Silver still did not circulate in the East, so Philadelphia struck only 16,800 business strikes that year and similar small numbers through 1869. San Francisco carried more of the load, but even its mintages stayed below 100,000 in every year of the period.
The Carson City Mint in Nevada struck its first quarters in 1870. The 1870-CC (8,340 struck) and the 1871-CC (10,890) are among the toughest dates in the whole Seated series. The 1872-CC, with 22,850 made, is scarce as well. Survivors from this period are often well worn, cleaned or damaged because many circulated for years in the mining West. Philadelphia proofs of 600 to 1,000 a year are the usual way collectors fill these dates in high grade.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1866
The five-cent nickel arrived in 1866 with the Shield design. The motto "In God We Trust" was added to silver dollars, half dollars, quarters and the larger gold coins.
How to recognize it
Liberty sits on a rock holding a shield inscribed LIBERTY and a pole topped with a liberty cap, with 13 stars around her and the date below. The reverse shows an eagle with QUAR. DOL. below. Arrows beside the date (1853 to 1855 and 1873 to 1874) and rays around the eagle (1853) mark weight changes. The motto IN GOD WE TRUST appears above the eagle from 1866.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Seated Liberty Quarter (1838–1891) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
| Mint | San Francisco Mint |
| Mint mark | "S" |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 28,000 |
| Face value | 25¢ |
| Composition | 90% silver, 10% copper |
| Weight | 6.22 grams |
| Diameter | 24.3 mm |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Silver content | 0.1800 troy oz (5.598 g) |
| Designer | Christian Gobrecht |
Other 1866 Seated Liberty Quarter issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1866 Seated Liberty Quarter, With Motto | 16,800 | Circulation strike | 0.1800 oz |
| 1866 Seated Liberty Quarter, No Motto (Mint records do not state any were made) | – | Variety | 0.1800 oz |
| 1866 Seated Liberty Quarter Proof, With Motto | 725 | Proof | 0.1800 oz |
| 1866-S Seated Liberty Quarter, With Motto | 28,000 | Circulation strike | 0.1800 oz |
Mintage: United States quarter mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.