Skip to content
SILVER $69.11GOLD $4,604GOLD/SILVER 66.6PLATINUM $1,887PALLADIUM $1,371COPPER $6.47BTC $77,243SNAPSHOT○
Coins/ Quarters / Early Quarters/ 1818/5
FINENESS .8924ASW 0.19336 OZT6.74 G
Issue RecordLARGE SIZEPhiladelphia89.24% Silver1 of 32 issues

1818/5 Capped Bust, large size Quarter

The die that waited three years, exactly as Browning predicted from the 1815 evidence.

1818/5 · Capped Bust, large size Quarter
1818/5Photography pending
02

The numbers, and what kind of numbers they are

Every figure carries its evidence class. Press a class to open the record behind it — what it rests on, by what method, and what the series says you should not conclude from it.

RECORDED DELIVERY
—
The Mint recorded what the Chief Coiner DELIVERED in a calendar year, not what it struck bearing a date. Where the registry combines years, the split is a reconstruction and the class says so.
DATED ATTRIBUTION
361,174
What the trade assigns to coins bearing this date. A modern allocation by an outside authority, not a federal record.
ESTIMATED SURVIVORS
1,250
An estimate of how many still exist in any grade, not a count of coins anyone has seen. Every issue in this series carries one, which is not true of any other series here.
03

Specifications

SpecificationValue
DENOMINATIONQuarter
DESIGNERRobert Scot (Draped Bust obverse, Small Eagle and Heraldic Eagle reverses) · John Reich (Capped Bust)
COMPOSITION89.24% silver, 10.76% copper — 92 13/16 grains of pure silver in 104 grains of standard silver
WEIGHT6.74 g
SILVER CONTENT0.19336 ozt
DIAMETERNot fixed by statute — which is the point of 1831. The Act of April 2, 1792 specifies weight and fineness and says nothing about diameter, so when the Mint reduced the quarter's diameter and thickened the planchet in 1831 it needed no legislation, passed none, and left no document explaining the decision.
EDGEReeded
MINTPhiladelphia only — the branch mints opened in 1838 and the first branch-mint quarter is the 1840-O
MINT MARKNone. No early quarter carries a mint mark.
DIE MARRIAGESthe 1815 obverse, overdated — its reverse 5 punch matches 1815's and no other 1818 die
04

The primary record

Every document behind the figures above. Where OunceDesk holds a copy, the row opens it.

Report of the Director of the Mint for calendar 1818
Held in the Archive · behind recorded delivery
PCGS CoinFacts — Draped Bust and Capped Bust quarter categories and ~30 major-variety pages
External authority — not held by OunceDesk · behind dated attribution
OunceDeskPrecious Metals IntelligenceIndependent research, market data, tools and coin intelligence for people who take hard assets seriously.