1920 Quarter Value Checker: Errors List, “D”, “S” & No Mint Mark Worth

1920-D quarter value ranges from $0.25 face value to $372,000. That record was set by a Grade 68 example sold at Heritage Auctions in August 2021. Upload a photo of yours below and you’ll get a quick value range based on your coin’s condition. Then scroll down to browse recent eBay sales and see what the market looks like right now.

 

1920 Quarter Value By Variety

Your 1920 quarter’s value depends heavily on which mint struck it and whether it earned a Full Head (FH) designation. Find your coin’s grade below in the Value Guides section for exact pricing.

Also Read: Top 10 Most Valuable Quarter Coins In Circulation Worth Money (With Pictures)

 

Top 10 Most Valuable 1920 Quarter Worth Money

The Denver mint owns this list. A finest-known MS68+ FH sold for $372,000 — the highest price ever paid for any 1920 quarter at auction. That coin was essentially perfect. Sharp Full Head detail, blazing luster, and no competition at the top of the pop report. Even dropping to MS67 FH, a Denver example has brought $36,000.

San Francisco trails but still puts up big numbers. An MS66 FH reached $105,000, and an MS67 hit $40,800. Philadelphia’s top result is an MS67 at $93,000. Across all three mints, the story is the same: grade and strike sharpness separate pocket change from serious money.

 

History Of The 1920 Quarter

By 1920, the Standing Liberty design had been in production for four years. Hermon MacNeil’s Type 2 revision — with Liberty’s chain mail covering and the repositioned stars on the reverse — was the standard, and all three active mints struck quarters that year.

The country was adjusting to a post-World War I economy. Manufacturing was ramping up, and silver quarters were everyday pocket coins. People actually spent these things.

One persistent problem with the series: the date sat on a raised pedestal and wore off fast. The Mint didn’t fix this until 1925 by recessing the date. That puts the 1920 issue right in the danger zone — dateless examples from this era turn up constantly, and they’re worth a fraction of a clearly dated coin.

Also Read: Top 100 Most Valuable Modern Quarters Worth Money List (1965-Present)

 

Is Your 1920 Quarter Rare?

Here’s what catches people off guard: the Philadelphia coin had the highest mintage by far, yet a Philly Full Head in MS66 or above is genuinely tough. Meanwhile, the Denver coin had the lowest mintage but the highest survival rate of the three mints. Low mintage doesn’t automatically mean hardest to find. What really separates common from rare is the Full Head designation — within the same mint and grade, an FH coin can be ten times scarcer than a standard strike. The Coin Identifier and Value App gives you a quick rarity lookup by date, mint mark, and grade, so you get a clearer picture of where your coin actually stands.

 

Key Features Of The 1920 Quarter

Knowing what to look for on this coin saves you from overpaying — or from missing something valuable. Here’s a walkthrough of both sides and a few details worth checking.

The Obverse Of The 1920 Quarter

Liberty stands full-length in a gateway, holding a shield in her left hand and an olive branch in her right. She’s wearing chain mail — the Type 2 design detail. “LIBERTY” runs along the upper edge, and the date sits on the pedestal beneath her feet. “IN GOD WE TRVST” is split across the two gateway walls, with stars flanking both sides.

Look to the left of Liberty’s feet for the mint mark. A “D” or “S” will be there if it’s a branch mint coin. No letter means Philadelphia.

Now, the big money detail: check Liberty’s head. Most 1920 quarters show mushy, incomplete hair and facial features. Coins with a sharp, fully detailed head — three distinct helmet leaves, a clear ear, and a crisp hairline — earn the Full Head (FH) designation. That single distinction can multiply a coin’s value several times over.

The Reverse Of The 1920 Quarter

Flip it over and you’ll see the eagle positioned high and centered — part of the Type 2 redesign from 1917. Three stars sit below the eagle, five on each side. “E PLURIBUS UNUM” runs above, “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” arcs across the top, and “QUARTER DOLLAR” lines the bottom.

The eagle is shown in flight with wings spread, moving right. I think it’s one of the best eagle designs in the entire U.S. series — naturalistic and detailed in a way that later designs never quite matched.

Other Features Of The 1920 Quarter

The coin is 90% silver and 10% copper, weighs 6.30 grams, and measures 24.30 millimeters across. The edge is reeded — standard ridged pattern for U.S. quarters of this era. Designer: Hermon A. MacNeil.

One thing to always check: can you read the date? That raised pedestal design wore the date smooth on heavily circulated coins. A dateless example is worth a fraction of one with a clear date. This wasn’t fixed until 1925, so it’s a constant issue with this era.

Also Read: Top 30 Most Valuable State Quarter Coins Worth Money List

 

1920 Quarter Mintage & Survival Data

Philadelphia cranked out 27,860,000 quarters in 1920. Only about 15,000 survive today. That’s a survival rate of 0.0538% — roughly one out of every 1,850 coins originally struck. The rest were spent into oblivion.

Denver’s mintage was just 3,586,400, with around 4,000 survivors. Its survival rate of 0.1115% is actually the highest of the three mints. Fewer coins made, but proportionally more saved. San Francisco falls in between at 6,380,000 struck and about 5,000 surviving.

None of the three mints breaks 0.12% survival. A coin that once filled cash registers across the country is now genuinely hard to find in collectible shape — and prices reflect that scarcity directly.

Also Read: Top 20 Most Valuable Bicentennial Quarter Worth Money List

 

The Easy Way to Know Your 1920 Quarter Value

Three things drive your coin’s price: mint mark, condition, and whether the strike qualifies as Full Head. Get any one of those wrong and your estimate will be off — sometimes by a lot.

The fastest way to nail all three is the Coin Identifier and Value App. Snap a photo and the AI reads your coin’s mint mark, estimates a grade range, and checks strike quality — then returns a value based on current market data.

No experience needed. No flipping between price guides. Just a clean result you can work with.

 

1920 Quarter Value Guides

Three mints, three different value profiles. Knowing which variety you have is step one.

• 1920 No Mint Mark Quarter — the most widely struck issue; accessible at lower grades but scarce in gem condition
• 1920-D Quarter — the lowest mintage of the three; commands the strongest prices across nearly every grade
• 1920-S Quarter — a mid-range mintage with strong demand, especially for well-struck Full Head examples

Grade and strike quality matter across all three, but the weight of each factor shifts depending on which mint struck your coin. The sections below break down each variety in detail.

 

1920 No Mint Mark Quarter Value

If you’re building a Standing Liberty set on a budget, start here. The Philadelphia issue is the most affordable entry point for 1920 — and honestly, it’s a better coin than it gets credit for.

Strike quality on this date runs stronger than most pre-1925 Philly issues. You’ll find decent luster and even attractive toning more consistently here than on the Denver or San Francisco coins.

Circulated examples are cheap. Around $24 in Good, $40 in Fine. Things get interesting at MS65 FH, where values climb to about $1,650. At the top, an MS66+ FH has pushed close to $93,000 at auction.

A mid-grade AU or low Mint State coin with a decent strike is both affordable and genuinely representative of the series. Good starting point for newer collectors.

The table below lists notable auction results for the 1920 Philadelphia quarter across grades and strike designations.

The chart below tracks monthly market activity for this coin over the past year.

 

1920-D Quarter Value

Think the Philly coin is nice? The Denver issue plays in a completely different league. That $372,000 sale in 2021 for an MS68+ FH — the all-time record for any 1920 quarter — tells you everything about how the market views this coin. Even at MS67 FH, a Denver example has sold for $36,000.

Strike quality is the persistent headache here. Full Head examples are uncommon even at the AU level. At gem grades, they’re genuinely rare. I’d say this is one of the toughest Full Head coins to find in the entire series.

For buyers, third-party certification is non-negotiable on this date. Check the pop reports too. The number of coins graded above MS65 FH is small enough that a single new submission can move prices.

Auction records for the 1920-D are listed below, covering a range of grades from circulated examples through top-tier Mint State coins.

Recent activity for the 1920-D, broken down by month, is shown in this chart.

 

1920-S Quarter Value

How can a coin look uncirculated and still have a mushy strike? Welcome to the 1920-S. San Francisco used weak die pressure during this period, so even Mint State examples often come out looking flat. A soft strike is the rule, not the exception.

That’s exactly why a genuine Full Head 1920-S is one of the most sought-after coins in the entire Standing Liberty series. A PCGS MS66 FH sold for $105,000 at Heritage Auctions in January 2025. A standard MS67 has also crossed $40,000.

In circulated grades, the coin is affordable — around $30 in Good, $130 in Extremely Fine. But those numbers have almost nothing to do with what a sharp, well-preserved example brings. Any 1920-S offered as Full Head should be in a certified holder before you hand over money.

Below is a selection of recorded auction results for the 1920-S, reflecting how prices have moved across different grade levels.

Monthly market activity for this coin is shown below.

Also Read: 22 Rare Quarter Errors List with Pictures (By Year)

 

Rare 1920 Quarter Error List

Most 1920 quarters you’ll encounter are straight-up circulated coins. But a small number left the mint with production mistakes — and those pieces pull serious collector interest. They’re not common finds, but knowing what to look for gives you a real cherrypicking edge.

1. 1920 Quarter Clashed Dies FS-401 Error

A die clash happens when the obverse and reverse dies smack into each other with no planchet between them. Each die picks up a ghost impression of the other’s design. Every coin struck afterward carries those transferred images in the wrong places.

On the 1920 Philly issue, this is catalogued as FS-401 in the Cherrypickers’ Guide. The key pickup point: look for a faint “E” from “E Pluribus Unum” near Liberty’s knee on the obverse. It’s subtle, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

This variety exists on both Philadelphia and San Francisco coins. The auction record for the 1920-S sits at $500 for an AU58 example. The Philly version reached $595 at MS64. Not big-dollar errors, but documented and collectible — and most sellers don’t know what they have.

2. 1920 Quarter Off-Center Strike Error

An off-center strike happens when the planchet isn’t seated properly between the dies. Part of the design is missing, and you get a crescent of blank metal showing.

These are scarce on Standing Liberty quarters. Larger denominations produce fewer off-center errors than cents or nickels, and with the already-low survival numbers for 1920, a genuine off-center example is a real find.

Collectors prefer strikes that land 40% to 60% off-center — dramatic enough to look impressive but still showing enough design to identify the coin. On a 1920 quarter, the date is the critical detail. If the date wore off or got clipped by the misalignment, the value drops hard since you can’t confirm the year.

3. 1920 Quarter Lamination Error

This one starts before the coin is ever struck. During the rolling process, gas pockets or impurities get trapped in the metal alloy. When the strip is rolled thin, those weak spots cause layers to separate, peel, or flake away.

On a 90% silver coin like the 1920 quarter, lamination errors are scarcer than on base-metal coinage. A documented 1920-P Standing Liberty Quarter with a reverse lamination has been offered for sale, confirming the variety exists.

Value depends on two things: where the defect falls and how dramatic it looks. A lamination cutting across Liberty’s figure or the date is worth considerably more than one hiding near the rim.

4. 1920 Quarter Straight Clip Error

Clipped planchet errors happen at the blanking stage. If the metal strip misfeeds, the punch cuts a blank that’s missing a piece — leaving a straight or curved edge where the coin should be round.

A confirmed 1920 Standing Liberty Quarter straight clip, weighing 6.17 grams and graded VF25, has been recorded at auction. That reduced weight is a key authenticity indicator — post-mint damage won’t change the weight.

When you’re examining a possible clip, look for the Blakesley effect: a flattened area on the rim directly opposite the clip. That’s your main diagnostic. Without it, you’re probably looking at damage, not a mint error.

5. 1920 Quarter Wrong Planchet Error (Peru 20 Centavos)

This is a one-of-a-kind coin. In 1920, the Philadelphia Mint was producing 20 centavos coins for Peru. Those planchets — 75% copper, 25% nickel — were close enough in size to a U.S. quarter blank that one ended up in the wrong press.

It’s the only known Standing Liberty Quarter struck on a foreign planchet for the entire series. It wasn’t in any reference book or catalog when it surfaced — a completely new discovery.

At first glance, it looks almost normal. But the weight is off at 6.9 grams versus the standard 6.25, and the color gives it away — green-gold and lilac tones that have no business on a silver coin. It’s graded MS60 Full Head and has sold for over $16,000 at auction. A true centerpiece error coin.

6. 1920 Quarter Die Crack Error

Die cracks form when the steel die fractures from repeated striking pressure. Every coin struck afterward carries a raised, irregular line — a direct impression of the crack itself.

On the 1920 Philadelphia issue, NGC recognizes die state VP-001, which shows a prominent die chip to the right of Liberty’s legs. Technically a die chip rather than a classic crack, but it falls in the same family of die deterioration varieties.

These tend to show up near high-relief areas where the die takes the most stress. Minor cracks carry small premiums among specialists. Bold cracks crossing major design elements are worth more. For collectors new to die varieties, this is a low-cost entry point — most trade for modest premiums over standard coins, making them an easy and genuinely interesting addition to a 1920 quarter set.

 

Where To Sell Your 1920 Quarter?

Once you know what you have and what it’s worth, picking the right selling venue makes all the difference. Dealers, eBay, and major auction houses each work best for different coins and price ranges.

Check out now: Best Places To Sell Coins Online (Pros & Cons)  

 

1920 Quarter Market Trend

*Market Trend Chart showing the number of people paying attention to this coin.

 

FAQ About The 1920 Quarter

1. How much is a 1920 quarter worth today?

It depends on which mint struck it and what condition it’s in. A 1920 Philadelphia quarter in Good grades around $22, while the same coin in Mint State climbs to around $1,000. The 1920-D is the most valuable of the three — a finest-known example sold for $372,000 at auction in 2021.

The Full Head designation also plays a major role. A standard 1920-S in Good is worth around $27, but a Full Head example in AU jumps to over $3,000.

2. How do I know which mint made my 1920 quarter?

Check to the left of Liberty’s feet on the obverse. “D” means Denver, “S” means San Francisco, no letter means Philadelphia. The mint mark is tiny — grab a loupe.

Philadelphia struck 27,860,000 that year. Denver made just 3,586,400.

3. What does “Full Head” mean on a Standing Liberty Quarter?

Full Head (FH) describes the sharpness of Liberty’s hair and facial detail. The coin needs three complete, separated helmet leaves, a fully defined ear, and a sharp hairline to qualify.

It’s a strike designation, not a grade — but it acts as a value multiplier. On the 1920-S, the FH premium can hit 1,000% or more over a standard example at the same grade.

4. Is the 1920-S quarter rare?

The 6,380,000 mintage looks common on paper. The real scarcity is in strike quality. San Francisco used weak die pressure, so coins come out flat even in uncirculated condition.

A genuine Full Head 1920-S is one of the hardest coins to find in the entire series. Only about 5,000 examples of any quality survive, and well-struck pieces are a tiny fraction of those.

5. Why does my 1920 quarter have no date?

The date sits on a raised pedestal — the first thing to wear away with use. This design flaw wasn’t fixed until 1925 when the date was recessed.

A dateless example is worth far less since you can’t confirm the year. Check carefully before assuming a worn coin is a 1920.

6. What is the 1920 Quarter Clashed Dies FS-401 error?

A die clash happens when the obverse and reverse dies strike each other without a planchet between them, leaving a ghost impression of each die’s design on the other. On the 1920 Philadelphia issue, the most visible sign is a faint “E” from “E Pluribus Unum” appearing near Liberty’s knee on the obverse.

This variety is catalogued as FS-401 in the Cherrypickers’ Guide and exists on both the Philadelphia and San Francisco issues. A 1920-P example in MS64 sold for $595, while a 1920-S example in AU58 reached $500.

7. How do I tell if my 1920 quarter has been cleaned?

Tilt the coin under a light. Cleaned coins show unnatural brightness and fine hairline scratches across the fields. Original coins have a softer, more muted luster — often with natural toning built up over decades.

Cleaning kills value. A coin that might grade MS64 raw could get slabbed as a “details” coin if cleaned, cutting the value in half or worse.

8. What grades are considered collectible for a 1920 quarter?

For the Philly coin, most collectors start at AU50 and up — lower grades are common and carry small premiums. For Denver and San Francisco, even Fine or VF examples are worth owning given the lower survival numbers.

Full Head examples are a different story at every grade level. Even a circulated 1920-S FH in Fine condition is considered a meaningful find, with values starting around $4,750 — far above a standard example at the same grade.

9. Is a 1920 quarter made of silver?

Yes. It’s 90% silver, 10% copper, weighing 6.30 grams. That works out to about 0.1808 troy ounces of pure silver.

Even beat-up examples carry a melt value above face. But a coin in any collectible grade is worth more to a collector than to a silver buyer — so don’t sell it for melt unless it’s truly trashed.

10. Where is the best place to sell a 1920 quarter?

Common circulated examples? A local dealer or eBay works fine. For higher-grade or Full Head coins — especially 1920-D or 1920-S — a major auction house like Heritage Auctions reaches more specialist buyers and typically brings stronger prices.

Get an accurate grade before you sell. A 1920-D FH in gem condition is worth thousands more than a standard example. Selling without knowing that difference means leaving real money on the table.