1873-CC Seated Liberty Quarter (No Arrows)

The 1873-CC No Arrows quarter is widely regarded as the key rarity of the Seated Liberty quarter series' "With Motto" era. Struck at the Carson City Mint before the arrows-at-date modification was introduced partway through 1873, it had an extremely small original mintage and is known today from only a very limited number of confirmed surviving examples.

Because most 1873-CC quarters encountered by collectors are the later Arrows type, the No Arrows variety is a true condition of extreme scarcity that draws intense attention whenever an example is offered publicly, standing among the most celebrated rarities of nineteenth-century U.S. coinage.

The Carson City Mint opened in 1870 to process silver from Nevada's Comstock Lode, but it operated on a comparatively small scale, producing modest quantities of most denominations relative to Philadelphia and San Francisco. In early 1873, before Congress passed further coinage weight adjustments that year (part of the broader Coinage Act of 1873), Carson City struck a very small batch of quarters using the standard No Arrows Seated Liberty dies then in use.

Later in 1873, the Mint added arrows beside the date on quarters and half dollars to mark another small weight adjustment, and virtually all subsequent 1873-CC quarter production used the new Arrows dies, leaving the No Arrows issue as an extremely brief, low-output anomaly.

Over the following century and a half, further attrition from circulation, melting, and loss reduced the tiny original mintage to only a handful of known surviving examples.

The design follows the standard Seated Liberty quarter with motto: Liberty seated on a rock with drapery at her elbow, holding a shield and pole with liberty cap, on the obverse; on the reverse, an eagle with shield, olive branch, and arrows, with a ribbon reading IN GOD WE TRUST above (added in 1866), UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around, and QUARTER DOL. below, with the CC mintmark beneath the eagle.

The critical diagnostic is the absence of arrows beside the date, distinguishing it from the far more common 1873-CC Arrows variety struck later the same year. Because the No Arrows variety is so rare and so easily confused with, or fraudulently altered from, the Arrows type, any coin claimed to be a genuine 1873-CC No Arrows quarter requires certification by a major professional grading service.

Given the coin's extraordinary rarity, most collectors will only ever encounter this issue through auction records, reference photographs, or museum exhibits rather than in hand.

The 1873-CC No Arrows quarter is one of the premier rarities of the entire Seated Liberty quarter series, with only a small number of examples confirmed to exist. When one is offered at a major public auction, it typically draws intense bidding interest and has realized prices well into six figures.

Given its extreme rarity and value, and the risk of alteration or misattribution from the more common Arrows variety, authentication by a major third-party grading service is essential for any coin represented as a genuine example.