The Denver Mint seemed to be undergoing some production challenges during this period. These troubles manifested themselves in the form of weak strikes caused by both worn dies and uneven striking pressure. These Standing Liberty quarters are often found lacking their full head design features, and similar weaker than average strikes are known on Lincoln cents, Buffalo nickels, and Mercury dimes in this period. The most dramatic evidence of these challenges came a few years later on the 1922 "Plain" cent, which was actually struck at Denver but with the obverse die so worn the mintmark had completely faded away.

Conversely all through this period some coins from the Denver Mint are boldly struck, so the production issues seemed to be intermittent. Thus, collecting sharply struck Denver Mint coins is fraught with challenges, and hence a Full Head 1918-D Standing Liberty quarter should command considerable respect.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the August 2011 Chicago ANA Auction, where it realized $10,350.