It's a Bird, It's a Plane…No It's a 1952 Superbird Quarter!

In 1952, a proof Washington Quarter was produced containing a letter "S" on the eagle's chest on the reverse side of the coin. After its discovery, collectors quickly referred to it as the Superbird Quarter, comparing it to the Superman hero character. In the 1950s, the Superman TV show was so extremely popular that some experts believe that a Mint employee intentionally added the "S' mint mark on the eagle's chest as a way of supporting the Superman show. It's now been over 50 years since its discovery and no further information has developed on how this variety occurred, and more than likely we will just never know. But one thing is for certain - this is a very interesting variety.

The 1952 Superbird variety is really popular amongst variety collectors and has proven to be quite scarce especially with cameo or deep cameo surfaces. Proof coins were usually struck in Proof Sets and the Mint struck 81,980 total proof sets in 1952. Since the variety has proven to be very scarce, more than likely less than a couple thousand examples exist. Sealed proof sets are now really scarce too, so finding one has proven to be even more difficult than in the past. However, for knowledgeable collectors this provides a good opportunity to cherry pick the Superbird variety on opened sets, as many collectors and dealers are unaware of the Superbird variety.

The Superbird variety is currently only found on 1952 Proof Washington Quarters. The top portion of the "S" is more prominent and the lower part of the "S" is more faint but still detectable with a 5X glass. This variety is now widely recognized by many variety specialists and many numismatic references as well as PCGS under the Variety Attribution program.

Proof Washington Quarters from 1952 without the Superbird variety have also proven to be extremely difficult to find containing cameo and deep cameo surfaces. This date is considered to be one of the toughest dates in the 1950s for the Washington Quarter series with cameo and deep cameo surfaces.

The 1952 Proof Washington Quarters have proven to be extremely challenging but yet very rewarding when found with the Superbird variety and more rewarding if found with cameo or deep cameo surfaces. Examples with this variety can bring multiples of a regular coin without the variety and examples in cameo or deep cameo can bring several thousand dollars each. For example, in a 2008 auction, a 1952 25C Superbird FS-901 PCGS PR66 Deep Cameo fetched $3,450.

It is definitely worth examining all 1952 proof sets or 1952 proof quarters, as finding the Superbird variety will not only make your day enjoyable but it will also be financially rewarding!