WHEN I got back into collecting in the early 1970s, like many collectors, I worked on completing collections I had begun as a junior collector. Thus, I tackled and completed series such as Lincoln cents, Mercury dimes, Washington quarters, and Walking Liberty half dollars. At some point, I decided to see what I could do with the three silver Barber series (dimes, quarters, and half dollars), and these were soon completed except for the 1901-S quarter.
For some reason, however, I never worked on a set of Standing Liberty quarters. Perhaps, it was the knowledge that I might never be able to afford even a well-circulated 1916 that deterred me.
Whatever it was, the reason had nothing to do with the coin’s design, as it was one of my favorites. On the obverse, Hermon A. MacNeil used a figure of Liberty with bare breast striding “. . . through an ornamented gate,” according to Ron Guth and Jeff Garrett’s. “She holds an olive branch in her right hand and a shield in her left. . .. IN GOD WE TRUST and thirteen stars appear on the walls of the gate. An eagle appears in flight across
