The main device on the reverse is an eagle, perched, with open wings, looking to left. On its breast, the Union Shield at centre, with thirteen vertical stripes, white and red, with a blue horizontal bar on top. The colours are represented by heraldic hatching (thin lines indicating the colour - horizontal stripes for blue, vertical for red, no stripes for white). From the eagle's perspective, it holds a bundle of three arrows in its left talon, and an olive branch in its right talon.
The arrows and olive branch together symbolise that the United States has "a strong desire for peace, but will always be ready for war". The eagle has its head turned towards the olive branch, to symbolise a preference for peace.
Around above, a scroll inscribed with the motto IN GOD WE TRUST.
Around the outer rim, the name of the country: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Below the eagle, the abbreviated value and denomination QUAR. DOL. (quarter dollar).
Coins struck by the Philadelphia Mint have no mint mark. Coins struck by the Carson City Mint or the San Francisco Mint have letters CC or S respectively, between the eagle and the denomination.
The rim is beaded. |