Fort Moultrie Quarter

The Fort Moultrie Quarter is a United States twenty-five-cent coin issued in 2016 as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. It honors Fort Sumter National Monument in South Carolina and was the fifth and final release of 2016 — the last coin in the fifty-six-design series. Like every circulating quarter of its era it carries John Flanagan's restored portrait of George Washington on the obverse and a site-specific design on the reverse.

The reverse shown here depicts a Continental Army soldier standing within the palmetto-log walls of Fort Moultrie, holding a flag, with the fort's defensive works and encampment behind him. Inscriptions on the reverse read FORT MOULTRIE (FORT SUMTER NATIONAL MONUMENT), SOUTH CAROLINA, and 2016, together with the standard UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, and QUARTER DOLLAR. The coin is copper-nickel clad, 24.26 mm across, and about 5.67 g, with a reeded edge.

The America the Beautiful Quarters Program ran from 2010 through 2021, issuing five different quarter-dollar reverses each year to honor a national park or site in each state, district, and territory. Fort Moultrie — administered as part of Fort Sumter National Monument (later Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park) in South Carolina — was chosen to represent that state, and its quarter closed out the 2016 program year and the original run of designs.

The reverse commemorates the defense of the fort during the American Revolution. On June 28, 1776, patriot forces under Colonel William Moultrie held the unfinished palmetto-log fort on Sullivan's Island against a British naval attack, an early American victory that gave the palmetto its place on South Carolina's flag. The coin's soldier-with-flag design evokes that defense. The obverse uses the Washington portrait first introduced on the 1932 quarter, modified over the decades but rooted in Flanagan's original work.

The reverse is the diagnostic side. It shows a uniformed Continental soldier holding a flag inside Fort Moultrie, with the fort's low palmetto-log wall and a tented encampment behind him. Curved around the design are the inscriptions FORT MOULTRIE and FORT SUMTER NATIONAL MONUMENT, with SOUTH CAROLINA and the date 2016 identifying the site and year. The legends UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and QUARTER DOLLAR run along the rim, and E PLURIBUS UNUM appears in the field. The obverse carries the familiar left-facing bust of George Washington with LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and the mint mark.

The mint mark sits on the obverse to the right of Washington's neck ribbon: P for Philadelphia, D for Denver, or S for San Francisco (used on collector proof and uncirculated coins). Physically the circulating coin is copper-nickel clad — two outer layers of 75% copper and 25% nickel bonded to a pure copper core — giving it a silvery face with a warm copper-colored edge stripe. It measures 24.26 mm in diameter, weighs about 5.67 g, and has a reeded edge, the same specifications as every modern U.S. quarter.

As a recent copper-nickel clad coin made for circulation, the Fort Moultrie quarter is worth its face value of 25 cents when found in change, and a small premium in pristine, uncirculated condition. There is no silver in the ordinary business-strike coins, so their metal value is minimal. Rolls and bags of uncirculated Philadelphia and Denver coins trade for modest sums among collectors assembling the series.

Higher premiums attach to the collector versions: San Francisco (S) proof and uncirculated strikes sold in Mint sets, and the separate 2016 Fort Moultrie five-ounce, three-inch .999 fine silver bullion and "P" uncirculated coins, which carry substantial silver value and sell well above face. Circulated examples pulled from pocket change are common and inexpensive; the coins that command real premiums are top-graded certified pieces and the silver issues. Treat all figures here as general context rather than firm prices.