1806 Draped Bust Quarter. B-2. Rarity-2. MS-64 (NGC). This is an incredibly important piece that matches superior eye appeal and excellent technical quality. Handsomely toned surfaces exhibit intermingled cobalt blue, antique gold and pinkish-rose iridescence to dominant mauve-gray and olive-charcoal patina. Isolated softness of strike is commensurate with the type, but most design elements are boldly to sharply rendered. Lustrous and satiny with an impressively smooth appearance in hand.<p>Now a mainstay denomination familiar to all, this was not the case for the quarter dollar in the beginning. Produced in limited numbers and erratically during the earliest years of U.S. Mint operations, the quarter was not a popular denomination with contemporary silver bullion depositors. Such coins were produced at the request of depositors during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and those dealing in silver bullion much preferred half dollars and silver dollars over quarters. Even so, calendar year 1806 saw the Mint deliver an unusually large number of quarters for the era -- 206,124 pieces -- those actually bearing the date 1806 eventually requiring 10 die marriages to produce.<p>Browning-2, offered here, is one of the more frequently encountered varieties of the issue in terms of total number of coins extant. As a date, of course, the 1806 quarter is very rare in the finest Mint State grades, as indeed is the Draped Bust type as a whole. With a pair of MS-65 specimens ranked as the finest known examples of the B-2 dies by Rea-Peterson-Karoleff-Kovach (2010), this beautiful MS-64 is certainly within the Condition Census. A significant bidding opportunity for advanced early quarter enthusiasts and discerning type collectors.
