1932-S Washington Quarter

The 1932-S shares key-date status with the 1932-D as one of the most sought pieces in the Washington quarter series. Its low first-year mintage at the San Francisco Mint makes it one of only a few genuine scarcities in an otherwise long-running and generally common design.

Collectors building a complete Washington quarter set by date and mintmark treat the 1932-S as an essential, and often the most expensive, single coin needed to finish the collection.

As with the Denver issue, the San Francisco Mint's 1932 quarter production was constrained by the sharp drop in commercial demand for new coinage during the Great Depression, the first year of the newly introduced Washington quarter design commemorating the bicentennial of George Washington's birth. The design was created by sculptor John Flanagan based on a Houdon bust of Washington.

Because coin demand had cratered, the Mint produced far fewer quarters that year than in typical years, and San Francisco's mintage in 1932 was similarly small to Denver's, cementing both as recognized key dates once collectors began forming complete date sets of the ongoing series in later decades.

The obverse carries the familiar left-facing Washington portrait with LIBERTY above and IN GOD WE TRUST beside the bust, while the reverse shows an eagle with wings spread atop a bundle of arrows, flanked by olive branches, with QUARTER DOLLAR and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the rim.

The 'S' mintmark is located on the reverse, below the wreath at the bottom center, in the same position used for the 'D' mintmark on the Denver issue. The coin is 90% silver, 24.3mm in diameter, with a reeded edge, identical in physical specifications to other silver Washington quarters.

Even well-worn 1932-S quarters bring a substantial premium over common-date silver quarters due to the low original mintage, with lower circulated grades often starting in the low hundreds of dollars and rising steeply with condition. Uncirculated examples are quite rare and can command prices well into the thousands or more for top grades.

As one of the most recognized key dates in a widely collected series, the coin is a frequent target for counterfeiting and mintmark alteration, so certified examples are strongly preferred by serious buyers.