1884 25C PR66 Certification #47402781, PCGS #5585

Ron Guth

The 1884 Quarter Dollar has a small mintage of only 875 Proofs, but most were saved by collectors, and literally hundreds of examples are available today.  PCGS alone has certified more than a third of the original mintage, even after factoring out resubmissions.  Most of the survivors are in excellent condition, though many of the coins suffer from hairlines or dullish toning due to improper handling and storage.  At the top end, even Gems are common, and the very best coins appear at the PR68 level.  Cameo Proofs represent approximately half of the known population despite population reports that indicate a higher degree of rarity.  This is because services such as PCGS did not recognize Cameos and Deep Cameos when they started out, thus many of the "straight" Proofs will eventually turn out to be Cameos.  Deep Cameo examples of the 1884 Quarter Dollar are truly rare -- PCGS has not yet certified even a single example.