1956 Washington Quarter

While only two mints – Philadelphia and Denver – were striking quarters in 1956, that didn’t prevent tens of millions of Washington quarters from making it to circulation. In fact, the second half of the 1950s saw coin production figures step up not only for quarters, but also for all of United States coinage as a whole. It was a time of relative economic prosperity for the United States and, therefore, a greater overall demand for coinage. While the Diners Club card, the predecessor to modern-day credit cards, was growing in popularity, metal coins were safely reigning, along with paper currency, as the principal monetary vehicle of the United States.

Here’s a breakdown of the mintages and values for 1956 quarters:

• 1956, 44,144,000 minted; $7

• 1956 proof, 669,384; $12

• 1956-D, 32,334,500; $7

*Values are for coins in a grade of Extremely Fine-40, unless otherwise noted.

1956 quarters present few challenges for coin collectors today in terms of rare varieties or errors. As for every year, minor die variations and errors will have occurred, though none of any magnitude was minted in 1956 that catch the attention of the casual Washington quarter collector, and even many series aficionados will stick to collecting only the regular business-strikes. A relative few will venture into collecting the proof specimen from 1956, which, like its business-strike cousins, is also quite common.