1838 Seated Liberty Quarter (No Drapery)

The 1838 quarter introduced the Seated Liberty design to the denomination, replacing the Capped Bust type that had been used since 1815. "No Drapery" refers to the earliest dies of this design (used from 1838 through part of 1840), which lack the fold of drapery beneath Liberty's left elbow that was added to strengthen that area of the die afterward.

As a first-year type coin within a design used across United States silver coinage for over half a century, the 1838 No Drapery quarter is a popular target for type collectors, standing at the start of a design family that would run, with modifications, all the way to 1891.

The Seated Liberty motif, generally credited to engraver Christian Gobrecht based on a composition by artist Thomas Sully, was introduced across U.S. silver coinage beginning with the dime and half dime in the mid-1830s. The quarter dollar adopted the design in 1838, replacing the Capped Bust type used since 1815.

The new design depicted Liberty seated on a rock, holding a shield inscribed LIBERTY in one hand and a liberty cap on a pole in the other, a neoclassical composition drawing on earlier allegorical imagery such as Britannia. Early dies for the quarter, as with the half dollar and dime, initially lacked drapery folds below Liberty's elbow, a detail added around 1840 to reduce die wear in that area.

The 1838 quarter also debuted the abbreviation "QUARTER DOL." on the reverse, replacing the earlier "25 C." denomination mark used on Capped Bust and Draped Bust quarters.

The obverse shows Liberty seated on a rock facing left, holding a shield inscribed LIBERTY in her right hand and a pole topped by a liberty cap in her left, with thirteen stars around the border and the date 1838 below. On No Drapery examples, the area beneath Liberty's left elbow is smooth, without the fold of drapery added in later years.

The reverse depicts an eagle with a shield on its breast, an olive branch and arrows held in its talons, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the border, and QUARTER DOL. below the eagle. There is no motto on the reverse, as "IN GOD WE TRUST" was not added until 1866.

The coin is struck in the standardized silver alloy adopted by the Mint Act of 1837 (90% silver, 10% copper) and has a diameter of about 24.3mm, smaller than the earlier Capped Bust quarter. As 1838 was struck only at Philadelphia, there is no mintmark.

The 1838 No Drapery quarter, as a first-year type coin, enjoys strong demand from type and date collectors alike. Its mintage for the year was modest by later standards, and worn, circulated examples remain reasonably available and affordable, typically in the low-to-mid hundreds of dollars.

Well-preserved, sharply struck mint-state examples are considerably scarcer and command a significant premium, reflecting the coin's importance as the debut issue of a design used for more than fifty years.