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Could a Choice AU set of State Quarters be assembled from circulation?
291fifth
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How long do you think it would take? I suspect it would be a difficult task. I see very few choice AU State Quarters in circulation these days. Keep in mind that they were struck from 1999 through 2009 and have had a long time to circulate.
All glory is fleeting.
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In the name of all humanity...…..WHY??!!
A BU collection could be assembled. Old rolls and bags are being dumped into circulation all the time.
You forgot the time limit...My Mom did it twice but it was done when the coins were current. She can't grade so I had to replace about eight to ten coins in each set. IMO, there are enough quarters in jars and in sets waiting to be put back into circulation that it could be done in less than a year. If that seems like "folly," at the least, it can still be done.
PS If choice means very few marks, it will take longer but still possible.
Absolutely the case. This vicinity is seeing brand new New York and brand new Massachusetts quarters in very large quantities, right now today.
Some of the later issues might be tougher.
I still check my change, and am still working my album set from circulation. (I was set back when I took some time off from 2007 to 2015. A few mint marks have eluded me. Just found a Minnesota "P" this weekend!).
Why? Just because. In many ways, it seems to me to be the purest form of collecting. Sure, the Dansco album is probably worth more than the coins themselves. Don't care.
I still see 1999 coins run though my hands. The issue at this point is whether they are "choice AU" anymore...probably not, for the most part. Once in awhile a particularly nice one shows up, and I debate going through the trouble of "upgrading" the one I had.
The bottom half of my post did not print
In my lunch change jar at work...
GA and MN MS-62 - MS-63
(2) CT, PA, AR, & MO in AU-50 - AU-53
NY XF-40
My definition of Choice AU is AU58. AU50 or 53 would not qualify, especially with today's gradeflation.
Choice AU might take a while.
Many of the earlier coins are AU but beat to hell.
As others have said, it seems like BU "older" dates get dumped back into circulation regularly and it may be easier to get those.
It may be surprisingly challenging.
I remember when sq's were started someone made a large US map with a hole for each quarter. I started it, but lost interest after about 2 years. The map was large and took too much space and waiting for the next one got old. I just got the silver proof sets instead.
Not sure why anyone would do that but that's collecting I guess. It all about the hunt. When they started coming out back on 99, I'd get a roll of P's and D's when the new ones came out every few months. I had all 100 rolls when it was done. Once I was done I asked myself "why" and then turned them all into the bank about 6 mos ago except for very few rolls.
ChAU-55 is probably still doable but anyone thinking they can do AU-58 is probably going to be disappointed. A nice AU-50 set should be "easy".
The states coins are, I believe, starting to wear more evenly and very few BU's are being released by hoarders any longer so in only five years or so an XF set will be difficult because the early dates will be too tough. I believe the reason they are finally wearing evenly is that these post eagle reverse quarters now make up more than two thirds of circulating quarters and people are stopping setting them aside as "special". Concurrently there is significantly increased hoarding of the eagle reverse coins since these seem to be "disappearing" to many people.
It should take several years for these older coins to get pulled out since there are so many of them. But in 10 years I'd expect only culls and heavily worn eagle reverse coins will remain. It's very surprising how quickly these changes in circulating quarters have been happening. It's apparent the FED has been recovering increasing numbers of worn and cull eagle reverse coins and combined with hoarding and increased minting to support an improving economy and drawdown the effect on circulating coins is dramatic.
I haven't been able to add a single coin to my low ball set of heavily worn clads in several years! It's hard to believe these are being selected out by hoarders.
It looks like 60 years of numismatically interesting coins will be drawing to a close soon. But they'll be replaced by a fascinating variety of types and historically interesting coins.
I say you can complete an AU-55 set but if you dawdle this might not stay true since these are all wearing down now.
Then MS-something would be easier to assemble.
Normally I agree with you but around these parts it is common to find a blazer MS66 Arkansas, Mississippi, Mass, etc.
I frequently see blazing gems from 2000-2006 but rarely earlier or later.
I frequently see MS SHQ's in change... I think people who initially saved them, decide to just spend them at some point... They really stand out when received in change. So yes, it should be possible to assemble a good set from circulation. Cheers, RickO
I've spent 30 rolls of ND over last month.................
I dump rolls of BU coins into circulation all the time. I'm sure there are a ton of AU's floating around. They don't only enter circulation from the MInt. Frankly, the Treasury probably has tons of bags of them laying around also - given that they minted the beejesus out of the things.
I'm not seeing many any longer. The ones I am seeing tend to be very nice choice specimens. What I'm especially not seeing is BU DE, PA, TN, IL, and some of the later states.
I'm also not seeing the huge numbers of AU-53 and better that characterized the whole series until six or seven years ago. I see a lot of XF+/AU with a smattering of high end coins of the most commonly seen states.
Variation across the country is possible. There's very little of any quarters in storage around here.
I don't think it would be possible to assemble a P&D set of AU Statehood quarters out of circulation. The Mississippi River splits the mint marks and it takes a long time for Denver minted coins to make it the east coast and Philly coins to make it out west. I suppose you could get lucky and find that one coin to finish the set, kinda like finding a Alaska license plate when your playing the game in Georgia.
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
I'm in NY. I dump hundreds of Denver coins into Coinstars. For normal years, the distribution is regional. But soooo many people were collecting these things that millions of them crossed the Mississippi River at issue date. The only question is how long it takes those collections to get dumped into circulation....I'm dumping as fast as I can.
You can probably put together a gold-plated set from circulation. I've dumped hundreds of gold-plated state quarters into circulation. Even a few platinum plated coins, though those will be harder to identify.
I currently search thru change as I try to fill a National Parks Quarters folder from circulation.
I frequently see state quarters (including from the early years) that look BU at first glance.
What I don't see are state quarters that look XF (or lower)... at least not in terms of physical wear. Sure, they might be dirty or damaged... but I don't think I've seen any that could be described as "problem free" XF.
So an AU set should be pretty easy at this point.
I would say that it would take 2 years off passively roll searching. I have spent over a year on my au/bu date set for SH quarters, searching 4-8 rolls a month. I think I settled on an "AU50" coin on the last hole. I'll always upgrade when a nice coin pops up.
What I get a thrill out of is finding a nice "eagleback" . Anything choice xf with full rims is going right into the littleton.
I did a couple sets while each were being issued for my kids. That’s when it should be done. But So far they are less than interested. Waste of time.