The year 1916 welcomed the appearance of a new
dime, quarter, and half dollar. The quarter featured the work of Hermon
A. MacNeil, depicting Miss Liberty standing between two revetments,
hence the name of the coin, Standing Liberty Quarter.
Liberty also holds a shield, symbolizing national defense and an olive
branch of peace, in response to the Great War engulfing Europe at the
time.
Much controversy arose upon the release of the
1916 Standing Liberty
Quarter, when people noticed Liberty’s unclothed bosom. Congress passed
a law in July 1917 to improve the manufacturability of the quarter,
while expressly forbidding changes to other aspects of the design.
Nevertheless, Liberty was soon clothed in a chain mail vest.
Only 52,000 of the 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter were minted. It was so
rare that coin collecting albums of the time used a cardboard insert in
its place, acknowledging the difficulty in finding an example of the
date. Not much has changed since then.
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