Centennial Quarter: Which Coin You Have and What It Is Worth
The coin most people mean by a centennial quarter is the 1976 Bicentennial quarter, with a colonial drummer on the back and the dual date 1776-1976 on the front. Others mean the five 2026 Semiquincentennial quarters marking 250 years. A circulated example of either is worth 25 cents; only high-grade and silver collector pieces sell for more.
The names are easy to mix up, and the coins look nothing alike. Here is how to tell which one you have, what was made, and what each is actually worth.
What people mean by a centennial quarter
The three anniversary words count in hundreds of years. Centennial is 100, bicentennial is 200 and semiquincentennial is 250 (half of a quincentennial, which is 500). The national anniversaries all count from 1776.
| Anniversary | Name | Year | What the Mint issued |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 years | Centennial | 1876 | Official medals in silver, bronze and gilt; no special quarter |
| 200 years | Bicentennial | 1976 | New reverses on the quarter, half dollar and dollar, struck in 1975 and 1976 |
| 250 years | Semiquincentennial | 2026 | Five quarter designs, plus new designs on other circulating coins |
For 1876, the Congressional Research Service's overview of anniversary coins and medals describes official medals made for the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia. It lists no centennial quarter. So when someone has a "centennial quarter," the coin in their hand is almost always a 1976 drummer quarter.
The 1976 Bicentennial quarter
President Nixon signed the Bicentennial coinage law, Public Law 93-127, on 18 October 1973. According to the Mint's page on Bicentennial coins and medals, it put new designs on circulating quarters, half dollars and dollars from 1975 to 1976. The obverses stayed as they were, so the quarter kept John Flanagan's left-facing Washington.
The reverses came from a Treasury competition run by the National Sculpture Society and open to sculptors who were U.S. citizens. Each of the three winners received $5,000. The quarter went to Jack L. Ahr of Arlington Heights, Illinois, named by the Mint in April 1974 as the designer of the colonial drummer for the quarter's reverse.
The drummer boy quarter design
Ahr's reverse shows a colonial drummer with a victory torch and 13 stars. CoinWeek notes that it was the only one of the three Bicentennial designs to show a human figure. The half dollar showed Independence Hall and the dollar the Liberty Bell over the moon.
Why there is no 1975 quarter
The law required the dual date in place of the usual year. The Mint struck the drummer quarter through 1975 and 1976, and every one of them reads 1776-1976. CoinWeek's collector guide puts it plainly: no 1975-dated quarters were struck. The circulating quarter was released at a ceremony in Chicago on 18 August 1975, after the half dollar and before the dollar.
The design was temporary. The Mint describes it as a temporary reverse for the 1975 and 1976 celebration, and the story of who is on the quarter picks up from there.
1976 quarter mintages and versions
The Mint had projected at least 1.6 billion quarters. Its final circulating total was 1.67 billion, which matches the two circulation mintages below. The collector versions came from San Francisco.
| Version | Mint mark | Metal | Mintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circulation strike, Philadelphia | None | Copper-nickel clad | 809,784,016 |
| Circulation strike, Denver | D | Copper-nickel clad | 860,118,839 |
| Proof, in the regular proof sets | S | Copper-nickel clad | 7,059,099 |
| Uncirculated, collector sets | S | 40% silver | 11,000,000 |
| Proof, collector sets | S | 40% silver | 4,000,000 |
Circulation mintages are from PCGS CoinFacts; the clad proof figure is from CoinWeek. The silver pieces are 40% silver and 60% copper and weigh 5.75 grams, per PCGS CoinFacts. That works out to 2.3 grams of silver, about 0.074 troy ounce.
The silver-clad 1976 quarter
Congress required at least 45 million 40% silver pieces across the three Bicentennial coins combined. Production strikes began at the San Francisco Assay Office on 23 April 1975. The Mint sold them by mail, not through banks: three-piece silver proof sets at $12 and silver uncirculated sets at $9. A 1976 quarter from change with no mint mark or a D is clad, not silver.
The 1975 and 1976 proof sets
The clad proof drummer quarters were not sold on their own. They came in the Mint's regular annual proof sets, which in both 1975 and 1976 contained the three Bicentennial coins, each with the dual date. CoinWeek gives the Mint's reported sales as 2,845,450 proof sets in 1975 and 4,149,730 in 1976, at an issue price of $7.00 a set. Those set sales are why the 1976-S clad proof quarter has a mintage in the millions and is not a scarce coin today.
What a 1976 quarter is worth
A circulated 1976 quarter is worth 25 cents. CoinWeek says there is no real premium for coins with light to heavy wear. With 1.67 billion struck for circulation, a worn one is not scarce.
Value starts only in top grades. CoinWeek reports that, on auction results from the last decade, MS66 examples generally sell for $10 to $40 and MS67 examples for $30 to $100, while MS68 coins bring thousands. PCGS lists its auction record for the 1976-D as $6,463 for an MS68 sold by Heritage on 4 January 2017.
The 1976-S silver quarters, uncirculated and proof, are the ones with a floor above face value, because they contain silver. For the silver uncirculated coin, PCGS lists its record as $19,200 for an MS69 sold by Heritage on 9 June 2019. Ordinary examples are nowhere near that.
Checking a 1976 quarter you found
Start with the mint mark on the Washington side. No letter or a D means a circulation coin. An S on a coin from change is unusual and worth a closer look, since every San Francisco drummer quarter was made for collectors, and an S coin may be one of the 40% silver pieces. Then judge the wear honestly. The premiums quoted above are for Mint State coins, which by definition show no wear at all; a quarter that has spent years in pockets and registers is a 25-cent coin, however old it looks.
The 2026 semiquincentennial quarter
For the 250th anniversary the Mint went further than in 1976. Instead of one temporary reverse, it issued five complete designs in 2026, each with its own obverse: the Mayflower Compact, Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Gettysburg Address quarters. The Mint's Semiquincentennial media kit has the official images.
Each is worth 25 cents in change. The one variety to look for is the Declaration of Independence quarter with a "July 4th" privy mark and no mint mark, of which the Mint made 250,000. Our posts on the America 250 quarters and the new US quarters cover the five designs in full.
| Feature | 1976 Bicentennial | 2026 Semiquincentennial |
|---|---|---|
| Anniversary | 200th | 250th |
| Law | Public Law 93-127 (1973) | Public Law 116-330 (signed 13 January 2021) |
| Quarter designs | 1 reverse | 5, each with its own obverse |
| Obverse | Washington (Flanagan) | Pilgrims, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln |
| Date on coin | 1776-1976 | 1776 and 2026 |
| Special silver issue | 40% silver S coins for collectors | 250 silver 2.5 oz July 4 pieces |
How to tell which anniversary quarter you have
Look at the back. A drummer means 1976, and a ship, soldier, bell, building or clasped hands means 2026. The front confirms it: the 1976 coin always shows Washington facing left with the dual date, while four of the five 2026 coins show someone else entirely.
If you have an American Women Quarter instead, with a right-facing Washington and a woman on the back, see our page on the quarter with a woman on the back. For what those coins are worth, the American Women Quarters value guide has the numbers, and the post on how many different quarters there are places all of these designs in order.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a centennial quarter?
- Not under that name. For the 1876 Centennial the official commemorations were medals. People who say centennial quarter usually mean the 1976 Bicentennial drummer quarter, or one of the 2026 Semiquincentennial quarters marking 250 years of independence.
- How much is a 1976 bicentennial quarter worth?
- A circulated 1976 quarter is worth 25 cents. CoinWeek reports MS66 examples generally sell for $10 to $40 and MS67 examples for $30 to $100 at auction. Only exceptional MS68 coins have brought thousands of dollars.
- Is the drummer boy quarter silver?
- Only the San Francisco collector versions. The Mint struck 40% silver uncirculated and proof drummer quarters with an S mint mark and sold them in sets by mail. Coins from Philadelphia, with no mint mark, and Denver, with a D, are copper-nickel clad.
- Why does the 1976 quarter say 1776-1976?
- Public Law 93-127 required the dual date on the Bicentennial quarter, half dollar and dollar. The quarters were struck in both 1975 and 1976 and all carry the same dual date, so no quarter is dated 1975.
- What is a semiquincentennial quarter?
- One of the five quarters the Mint issued in 2026 for the 250th anniversary of independence: Mayflower Compact, Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Gettysburg Address. Each has its own obverse, and only one shows Washington.
Sources
- U.S. Mint, Bicentennial Coins and Medals
- U.S. Mint historical document, Bicentennial coin design competition winners visit Washington (24 April 1974)
- U.S. Mint historical document, Bicentennial coinage design competition (23 October 1973)
- U.S. Mint historical document, First strikes celebrate the Bicentennial (10 April 1975)
- U.S. Mint historical document, Bicentennial circulating coins arrive (1 July 1975)
- PCGS CoinFacts, 1976 25C Clad and 1976-D 25C Clad
- PCGS CoinFacts, 1976-S 25C Silver
- CoinWeek, 1976-D Bicentennial Quarter: A Collector's Guide
- CoinWeek, 1976-S Bicentennial Quarter, Clad Proof: A Collector's Guide
- Congressional Research Service, Coins and Medals Celebrating the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (IF11926, 16 April 2026)
Last verified: October 2026. Mintage figures are final.