1822 25C XF45 Certification #25666826, PCGS #5332

B-1 Golden toning thoughout both sides.

While 1822 is only one of the “tougher” dates among Large Size Capped Bust 25c, it is arguably the most interesting. Five different 1822-dated obverse dies were produced, but only one was employed for striking 1822 quarters. The others were subsequently over-dated, one for use in 1823, three for 1824. Two of the unused 1824/2 obverses were then over-dated once again for 1825, and the 1823/2 obverse was over-dated once again for 1827. Furthermore, the single obverse die employed for 1822 was mated with three different reverses - the Blundered 25/50 Reverse on the shelf since 1818, the Normal Reverse used to strike most of the 1822 mintage, and then the Broken Arrowhead Reverse T in a newly discovered B.3 die pairing (2017), the reverse that was subsequently used to strike quarters of 1823, 1824, 1825 and 1828. That is quite a family tree for such a simple date.

Currently, the only known example of B.3 is the Discovery Coin, certified in 2017 as AG3 by NGC.

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Ron Guth

The 1822 Quarter has a much smaller mintage than that of the previous year, but the 1822 is not known as a particularly scarce date.  Two die varieties comprised the entire mintage of this date: one variety is the 25/50C and the other shows a normal denomination.  Based on die evidence, researcher and author Steve Tompkins concluded that the Blundered Denomination resulted from a die left over from 1818.  The Blundered Denomination appears to be two to three times as scarce as the normal reverse.

Approximately a dozen Mint State examples are known of the Normal Denomination.