1861 Quarter - 1861 Seated 25C NGC MS62. This colorful, Mint State, Civil War dated 1861 Quarter is lustrous and eye-appealing. Shades of electric blue, gold, and light tan are present on the obverse with the rim ringed and Liberty outlined in blue. The reverse has many of the same colors with deep orange and rust added. The colors attest to the coins originality. The surfaces are clean for the grade with no notable individual abrasion marks or other distractions. The coin is well struck with full details on Libertys head, the centers of the stars, and the lower left of the eagle.

Christian Gobrecht designed the Seated Liberty quarter. The obverse depicts Liberty seated looking over her shoulder to the left. She balances the Union Shield inscribed LIBERTY with her right hand and holds a staff on which is placed a Phrygian cap in her left. There are seven stars to the left and six to the right interrupted by her head and the capped pole. The date is below. The reverse shows the heraldic eagle looking left. It is surrounded by the required inscription and the denomination written as QUAR. DOL. below. Dentils are around the periphery of both sides of the coin.

Gobrecht became the third Chief Engraver at the United States Mint. He was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania in 1785. His father was a German immigrant, and his mother traced her ancestry to the early settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Gobrecht married Mary Hewes in 1818. One of his early positions was as an engraver of clocks in Baltimore. Later he went to Philadelphia where he became a banknote engraver. He invented a machine that allowed one to convert a three-dimensional medal into an illustration. In 1826 Gobrecht did his first work for the Mint as an assistant to William Kneass. After Kneass suffered a debilitating stroke, Gobrecht did all the die and pattern work for the Mint. He became Chief Engraver in 1840 and served until his death in 1844. He was famous for his Liberty Seated motif, which was used for all denominations of silver coinage including the half-dime, dime, quarter dollar, half dollar and silver dollar. He also designed the Liberty Head gold eagle, a motif that was also used on the half-cent, the cent, the gold quarter eagle, and the gold half eagle.

In 1856, Variety 1 of the Liberty Seated quarter was resumed and continued until 1865. . However, the coin maintained the weight of 6.22 grams that had been changed from Variety 1. The coin was made lighter by 0.46 grams to prevent melting for bullion.