1818 quarter

[e1cnr]

it is bent and damaged, I am not even sure if it is authentic

 

the weight and diameter are correct

 

I am not sure what the reeded edge is supposed to look like -

they did not have collars then did they?

 

[Coindude]

Looks real to me but as you already stated, severely damaged.

[BillJones]

It looks genuine to me.

 

The thing about the reeding during the early years was that it could be weak, strong or even missing. The reeding was placed on the coins via a separate process, and given that it did vary from coin to coin. Sadly today it is hard to study reeded because most good coins are in slabs.

 

I should mention that a minority of collectors believe that the early mint used a closed collar, which imparted the reeding on the coins from a much earlier date than others believe. While they agree that the lettered edge had be imparted on the coins through a separate operation (It could not be any other way because a closed collar would have resulted in a fusion of the coin with the collar starting with the very first piece struck.) they contend that the reeded edges were the result of closed collars. Since all of my coins are now slabs, it is hard to make a detailed study concerning this theory.