1916 Standing Liberty Quarter, J-1989 pattern, graded NGC PF 61. Image courtesy of Numismatic Guarantee Corporation.
The coin was originally graded by another third-party grading service, which had identified it as a regular 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter. The error went undetected until a sharp-eyed numismatist at Heritage Auctions noticed that the design differed from the regular issue. It was then submitted to NGC, which verified the discovery.
This pattern (J-1989) differs from the regular 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter in two major ways: It is missing the designer’s initial, “M,” to the right of the date, and it has a different-style olive branch near the “L” in “LIBERTY.”
