1923-S Standing Liberty Quarter

Semi-key

One of the keys of the series. San Francisco struck fewer than 1.4 million and they circulated, so it is scarce in every grade.

Mintage

Business strikes: 1,360,000
Mint: San Francisco (S)
Mintage rank: 5 of 37

Rank 1 is the lowest business-strike mintage in the series. Mintage is what the Mint produced, not what survives. These circulated through the 1920s and 1930s and were melted for their silver later, none of it recorded by date. On the 1916-1924 issues the date itself wore away, so a large share of what survives cannot be attributed to a year at all.

Reading the figure

Among the 12 San Francisco issues in the series it is the 2nd smallest. Of the 11,076,000 struck across all mints in 1923, this issue accounts for 12%. Philadelphia struck 7.1 times as many that year. The 1923 split ran Philadelphia 9,716,000 and San Francisco 1,360,000. The series median is 3,586,400, so fewer than half as many of these were struck as a typical date. Series-wide output rose sharply that year: 11,076,000 against 1,916,000 in 1921. In 1923 the coin was struck at Philadelphia and San Francisco; Denver struck none.

Every sentence above is computed from the mintage table on this page, not asserted separately.

Scarcity tier

Semi-key

Assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 is a key date, under 2,500,000 is a semi-key.

This is a reproducible label derived from the mintage column, not a market valuation and not a Coin Curator price opinion. The same thresholds apply to every series on this site. Several dates are far harder or far easier to obtain than their mintage implies; where that is true, it is stated above.

The date wears off the early issues. On the 1916-1924 quarters the date sits raised on a pedestal at the base of the obverse, exposed to every hand that touched the coin. Read the full note on the series page.

What to check before buying

Specific to the 1923-S:

1Confirm the date is genuinely struck and legible rather than restored with acid, which leaves a dull pitted patch around the digits. The grading services will not certify an acid-treated coin.

And for any certified coin

Verify the certification number on the grading service’s own lookup rather than from a photograph of the label, match the listing images to the certification record including grade and any variety attribution, look for cleaning, compare the mintmark against published photographs of the genuine issue, and read the return policy before buying. The grading guide covers each of these in full.

Coin Curator does not grade, authenticate, or appraise coins, and publishes no price or population data. These are verification steps, not a valuation.

Verify a certification number

Look a 1923-Scertification number up on the service’s own site. A photograph of a label proves nothing.

PCGS cert lookup NGC cert lookup ANACS cert lookup

Each service publishes its own guarantee with conditions and exclusions. Compare PCGS, NGC and ANACS.

Find a 1923-S for sale

Opens an eBay search for this exact date and mint. Coin Curator does not list inventory, hold stock, or quote prices; verify each listing, seller, and return policy directly.

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Common questions

How many 1923-S Standing Liberty quarters were minted?

The San Francisco Mint struck 1,360,000 1923-S Standing Liberty quarters for circulation. That is the 5th lowest business-strike mintage of the 37 date and mintmark combinations in the series.

Is the 1923-S Standing Liberty quarter a key date?

Coin Curator labels it a semi-key, assigned from reported mintage alone: under 750,000 struck is a key date and under 2,500,000 is a semi-key. The same thresholds are used for every series on this site, so the tiers are comparable between them. That label describes production, not market value or how hard the coin is to find today. One of the keys of the series. San Francisco struck fewer than 1.4 million and they circulated, so it is scarce in every grade.

What should I check before buying a 1923-S Standing Liberty quarter?

Verify the certification number on the grading service's own lookup page, match the listing photographs to the certification record, check for cleaning, and compare the mintmark shape and position against published photographs of the genuine issue. Confirm the date is genuinely struck and legible rather than restored with acid, which leaves a dull pitted patch around the digits. The grading services will not certify an acid-treated coin.

Guides for this coin

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