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West Point Circulation Quarter First Discoveries Tracking Thread

ZoinsZoins Posts: 33,912 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited April 25, 2019 10:36PM in U.S. Coin Forum

Here's a thread to track all the First Discovery West Point Circulation Quarters.

https://www.pcgs.com/2019quarterquest

2019-W Lowell PCGS MS66 pop 1/1/0 First Discovery 1 of 2

This coin was discovered by Michael T. of Fairfax, Virginia. He received half of the $5,000 PCGS award and auctioned the coin on Great Collections. He was searching for silver proofs in a box of quarters.

Michael T. from Fairfax, Virginia [...] had taken to Reddit after picking up a box of quarters to search through for silver proofs. "The box ended up being full of 2019 American Memorial Park Quarters, but on the end of one roll I saw a "W" mint mark, and I was super excited there might be something good in here." He shared an image of the coin on the end of roll and users were quick to encourage him to submit the coin for the Quarter Quest competition. "I have been collecting since I was 10 or 11 when my dad gave me an Eisenhower dollar, I am excited to use the prize to help people."

2019-W Lowell PCGS MS65 pop 0/1/1 First Discovery 1 of 2

Discovered by Steven R. of Topeka, Kansas. Amazing that Steven didn't even know about the PCGS contest until he found the coin and did an Internet search! He noticed this in change for a gas station purchase of a couple of Pepsis.

Early this past Monday, a PCGS Customer Service Representative opened an email from a Steven R. in Topeka, Kansas sent at 2:19 AM PST on Sunday, April 7, 2019. The email contained only one sentence, "Is this the quarter you are offering the reward for?" with an image of a 2019-W Lowell Quarter alongside what looked to be pocket change and a few collectible coins.

He would ultimately submit one of the winning 2019-W Lowell Quarters to arrive at PCGS on April 9, 2019. "Not sure if someone’s already claimed the reward but I thought I’d get mine graded as well," was the message in the order notes section of Steven R.’s submission. The buzz spread around the office like wildfire, it was only Tuesday, the competition had just been announced, yet here we stood with our first winner.

"I had just stopped at a gas station to buy a couple of Pepsis" he reflected, "I looked down at my change and saw a "W" Mint mark and thought ’huh, those don’t exist.’" At the time, Steven was not aware of the U.S. Mint release or the competition; however, having been a coin collector from a very young age, he was always checking his change for circulating rarities. His interest in coin collecting all started from searching through his grandfather’s coin jars hoping to stumble upon something big. "I was always looking for that ’44 steel penny," Steven shared while discussing his history with coins.

Once he arrived at home, he jumped on the internet where he found the buzz about the PCGS 2019 Quarter Quest. "I thought for sure some bank teller would have already won but I could not pass up the chance. I made it to FedEx on Sunday at 6:16 pm and with only 14 minutes to have the package qualify for overnight shipping he wrote the mandatory "FD19" on the package in black sharpie, double checked that he had filled out the submission correctly and sent the package on its way.

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