1827/3/2 Bust Quarters: The Rarest US Quarter Date
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1827/3/2 Bust Quarters: Part 1
The 1827/3/2 capped bust quarter is the rarest US quarter date, edging out the 1823/2 that I posted about previously. No 1827/3/2 quarters were intended to circulate, and were intended to be “special” from the moment they were struck. All 1827/3/2 quarters were struck from the same obverse die as the 1823/2 quarters, which was annealed, overdated to 1827, and hardened again to strike 1827/3/2 quarters.
There are two die marriages for 1827/3/2 quarters, and four distinct “types”. This first post will focus on the Browning-1 coins, which are often referred to as “originals.” These were struck in 1827 for some unknown reason, though the Tompkins bust quarter book speculated that they could have been made as unofficial Christmas gifts for mint officials. A total of nine B-1 “original” bust quarters are known to exist, of which one is impounded in the National Numismatic Collection.
This post covers the eight B-1 “originals” that I could find images for (the only coin I could not find images of was the NNC coin).
Rea #1 / Tompkins #2
- Grade: PCGS PF66+ CAM
- Last public offering: 2015
- Image Credit: PCGS TrueView
Rea #2 / Tompkins #1
- Impounded in National Numismatic Collection (Washington, D.C.)
- (No image)
Rea #3 / Tompkins #3
- Grade: PCGS PF65
- Last public offering: 2019
- Image Credit: PCGS TrueView
Rea #4 / Tompkins #4
- Grade: PCGS PF64
- Last public offering: 2014
- Image Credit: Heritage
Rea #5 / Tompkins #5
- Grade: PCGS PF64
- Last public offering: 2007
- Image Credit: PCGS TrueView
Rea #6 / Tompkins #6
- Grade: PCGS PF65 CAM
- Last public offering: 2021
- Image Credit: PCGS TrueView
Rea #7 / Tompkins #7
- Grade: PCGS PF63
- Last public offering: 2015
- Image Credit: Heritage
Rea #8 / Tompkins #8
- Grade: NGC PF62
- Last public offering: 2008
- Image Credit: Heritage
Rea #9 / Tompkins #9
- Grade: PCGS PF20
- Last public offering: 2017
- Image Credit: PCGS TrueView
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1827/3/2 Bust Quarters: Part 2
As mentioned in my previous post, 1827/3/2 capped bust quarters are comprised of two die marriages. This post will begin to discuss the Browning-2 die marriage.
1827/3/2 B-2 quarters are often referred to as “restrikes,” because most of the coins were struck sometime in the 1860s or 1870s and exhibit extensive die rusting due to decades of improper die storage. Two B-2’s are different, however, and have no evidence of die rusting at all. These two special B-2’s (referred to as “essay” pieces) are thought to have been patterns that were a product of the mint’s experimentation with new close collar striking. According to the Tompkins book, these were likely struck in 1827, possibly even before the B-1 “originals” were produced.
These two coins have a different number of edge reeds compared to the B-1 “originals” and the other B-2’s, which helps to substantiate the claim that they were made to test the mint’s new close collar technology. These two “essay” pieces use the same obverse die as the B-1 “originals”, and a leftover reverse die used to strike 1819 B-2.
Something interesting about these two coins is that both were struck on cut down 1806/5 quarters. Some of the features from the 1806/5 quarters are visible on the “essays”.
For reference, the Judd pattern book refers to these two coins as Judd-48a.
Rea #1 / Tompkins #1
Rea #2 / Tompkins #2
1827/3/2 Bust Quarters: Part 3
As a continuation of my series about 1827/3/2 bust quarters, this post will discuss the 1827/3/2 B-2 “restrikes”. Unlike the two B-2 “essay” coins that I posted about previously, these coins are true restrikes that were made solely to satisfy collector demand sometime in the 1860s or 1870s.
The B-2 “restrikes” were also struck with the 1819 B-2 reverse die (as was the case for the “essay” coins), except these show evidence of extensive die rust. By the time these restrikes were produced, the dies were several decades old, and the contemporary rust prevention methods could only inhibit corrosion so much. As such, the dies developed significant pitting corrosion, which manifested itself as numerous raised bumps on the coins.
The Rea and Tompkins censuses list a total of nine coins, but when trying to track down images of the nine restrikes, I discovered that two of the coins in the Rea/Tompkins censuses are actually duplicates of the same coin. Rea #5 and #6 are equivalent, and Tompkins non-indent coins #1 and #2 are equivalent.
As noted above, all but one of the restrikes feature an indent on Liberty’s chest. It’s thought that the indent may have been caused by a piece of foreign material adhering to the die during striking. Since Tompkins separated the “no indent” coin from the “indent” coins in his pedigree lists, I also denoted it separately.
Out of a total of eight B-2 “restrikes”, seven are presented here. The eighth coin is impounded in the Durham Western Heritage Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.
Rea #1 / Tompkins (Indent) #1
Rea #2 / Tompkins (Indent) #2
Rea #3 / Tompkins (Indent) #3
Rea #4 / Tompkins (Indent) #4
Rea #5 / Tompkins (No Indent) #1
Rea #6 / Tompkins (No Indent) #2
Rea #7 / Tompkins (Indent) #5
Rea #8 / Tompkins (Indent) #6
Rea #9 / Tompkins (Indent) #7
1827/3/2 Bust Quarters: Part 4
This post will cover the fourth and final type of 1827/3/2 bust quarters: the B-2 copper “restrikes”. These were also struck during the 1860s or 1870s, and are prime examples of the US Mint’s shenanigans to satisfy collector demand for this rare date.
Something interesting to note is that the five copper restrikes are lacking the indent that is seen on most of the silver restrikes. This means that the copper restrikes were likely struck before the silver restrikes, but were still made during the same time period since the copper restrikes also exhibit significant die rust.
A total of five copper restrikes are known, one of which is impounded in the Museum of Connecticut History (no picture available, sadly), and one of which is silver plated.
Rea #1 / Tompkins #2
Rea #2 / Tompkins #3
Rea #3 / Tompkins #1
Rea #4 / Tompkins #4
Rea #5 / Tompkins #5 (Silver Plated)
Very interesting.... Thank you for your in-depth presentation of these rarities. Very informative. Cheers, RickO
Fascinating history and details about that date — thank you! I’m a gold kinda guy, but the capped bust large-diameter quarters are my favorite U.S. silver series.
Great post on these very rare quarters! Thank you!
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
Very nice! Thank you for sharing!
have you done another one of these? it all looks familiar.
well done btw!
Great post! Thanks!
Good memory, a couple of weeks ago, I made a similar post about 1823/2 quarters. Glad to hear you liked this!
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1064336/1823-2-capped-bust-quarters-the-rarest-quarters-made-for-circulation#latest
Thank you for the great post. Very informative and nice to have all the photos in one place.
Thank you, informative post.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Very cool. I wonder why the specimens in museums have no photo available?
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The original quarter number eight was sold late last year and crossed to PCGS Proof 62 in January 2022. Updated photos available on CoinFacts. Thanks again for your in depth discussion on these fantastic coins.