Liberia’s 1906 25-cent piece struck in 5.80 grams of .925 silver. This type was introduced in 1896 as the country’s first 25-cent coin, and ten years after that first coinage, an additional mintage of these coins was needed. Some 34,000 of these 1906 25-cent pieces were coined, again at the Heaton mint in Birmingham.
As it happens, the image of this coin appears on Liberia’s first “coin” postage stamp, the blue-and-black 25-cent of 1906. The single star beneath the portrait suggests the single star on the Liberian flag, which—having replaced the original flag’s Christian cross—was intended to symbolize Liberia’s existence as a united and independent nation.
But note the portrait. It’s an image that I personally find very pleasing, but it seems much more European than African.
The portrait would have a more local aspect with the next mintage of 25-cent pieces, but the new type would be a long time arriving. Not until 1959 did the Philadelphia mint begin coining Liberia’s new 25-cent pieces, with all of those struck in 1959 and ’60 being dated 1960.
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