West Point 2020 Privy Marks on ATB Quarters to Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the End of WWII
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Production starting for 2020-W quarter dollars with privy mark
By Paul Gilkes , Coin World
Published: Jan 17, 2020, 11 AM
“The West Point Mint has already begun production of the five 2020-W America the Beautiful quarter dollars for distribution into general circulation, but with a twist.
Each of the 2020-W quarter dollars is being struck with a privy mark that will appear on each coin’s obverse, in the field in front of George Washington’s portrait, above the inscription LIBERTY.
The privy mark is being sculpted directly into the master die.
The earliest strikes are test pieces that U.S. Mint officials refer to as “design validation strikes."“
Source and more info: https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/production-starting-for-2020-w-quarter-dollars-with-privy-mark
Thanks @mas3387.
Comments
Yikes... I just told another member there were none planned.... Thank you... Cheers, RickO
I did not expect any either, but this appears to be a unique (for the lack of a better word) issue/minting.
Will be fun to try and find them. I have yet to see a circulating "W" quarter!
Coin dealers ... get ready to answer your phones. The general public is going to want to cash in!
"Hello, I have one of those rare quarters that I read about on line. I'll let you have it for $2000. That's $500 less than what the sellers on eBay want."
In addition to the privy marked West Point ATB quarters to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the end of WW II the US Mint is also working on a gold coin and medals.
—————
Commission of Fine Arts recommends designs for gold coin, two medals By Paul Gilkes , Coin World
Published: Jan 17, 2020, 12 PM
“The coin and medals for the World War II anniversary are being issued under discretionary authority granted to the Treasury secretary.
The U.S. Mint pursued the recognition since no commemorative coin legislation introduced to mark the same 75th anniversary was gaining any traction toward passage in Congress.“
“The Commission of Fine Arts recommended the designs above for the $25 gold coin and silver and bronze medals recognizing the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.”
https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/commission-of-fine-arts-recommends-designs-for-gold-coin-two-medals
Thankfully they left some empty spots in my folder for the W quarters
Look forward to getting them all
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/publishedset/209923
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/quarters/washington-quarters-major-sets/washington-quarters-date-set-circulation-strikes-1932-present/album/209923
A few years ago, I remember being at an LCS and telling someone that atleast our mint doesn't do privy marks and I hope we never do.
Not being a very knowledgeable collector, I just have to ask...what the hell is a "privy mark"? The image it brings to mind for me in this case is Thomas Jefferson's butt-cheek imprint on the seat of the privy .
In this case, I think "privy" is Latin for "gimmick".
Speaking of W's...I just this minute found one in a roll. My count is now 3 Lowe, 6 AMP and 2 WIP.
Modern era privy mark example (below IGWT):
An article about privy marks:
https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/privy-marks-as-identifiers.html
Cool, 5 more.
Just purchased the last issue for 2019, thought I was finished...
The quest continues...
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
I didn't know that was there. What the heck is it?
Its a fair question.
I think of modern privy marks as a special symbol added to some dies of a normal coin to create a limited edition version of that coin for an event.
In the case of the quarters, they will all get the mark in order to turn the otherwise normal quarter into a WWII commemorative.
The two intro AI’s didn’t have it but the State/Territory AI’s do.
It’s to represent “industry and innovation” as stylized gears.
Cropped from a CoinFacts AI coin:
Awesome. I want a top-pop W bat quarter.
Oh, gack!
19th Century die sinkers and engravers would cringe at the computer generated crap the mint puts out.
That medal is bad.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
In 2015 the Royal Canadian Mint produced a Maple Leaf with a privy commemorating the 100th anniversary of Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity:
I had never seen a privy mark before, so I mistakenly thought this was a unique commemorative thing.
But apparently it's just an on-going marketing ploy.
Successful BST transactions with forum members thebigeng, SPalladino, Zoidmeister, coin22lover, coinsarefun, jwitten, CommemKing.
So now I'm wondering if our host will be rewarding first graded with prize money again..... @HeatherBoyd ? W Quarters Round 2 ?
Just when the wife thought my W quarter crazy search was over.
This is the final full year (5 coins) for the National Park quarter series with a final, single coin (Tuskagee Airmen) being offered up in 2021. The"V75" privy mark should make these W's easier to spot. Remains to be seen, what, if any special treatment the Mint will give the final coin in 2021. Hopefully the series with them will go out with a bang.
Here's a reverse image of the remaining six coins:
Let's try to keep this thread limited to a discussion of the 2020 W quarters and let other new offerings find their own threads.
Mint has announced the official issuance ceremony for the Samoa Bat to be Feb. 13. Still looking for a schedule on the 2020 circulating quarter releases to the public. If you find it please post.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
2020 ATB Schedule
State/Territory, Site, Release Date
America Samoa, Samoa National Park, 3 Feb
Connecticut, Weir Farm Historic Site, 6 Apr
U.S. Virgin Islands, Salt River Bay National Park, 1 Jun
Vermont, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park, 31 Aug
Kansas, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, 16 Nov
https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/america-the-beautiful-quarters
Enjoy the hunt!
I had fun with these last year as Albuquerque was one of the cities that had those coins but I doubt if the new ones will be
released here this year as they say they will be more widely distributed here again. Exactly what "widely distributed" means
has to be explained, If it means that they will be mixed in with the whole mintage of the coins there will be very few of these
coins in a box of quarters. Too much time and trouble for me to look for them at my advanced age
.Good luck guys and gals.
>
That is a good question tommyrusty7. The Mint does not distribute coins and does not control the Federal Reserve and how they distributes coins. There are 12 Federal Reserve banks located in:
Boston
New York
Philadelphia
Cleveland
Richmond
Atlanta
Chicago
St. Louis
Minneapolis
Kansas City
Dallas
San Francisco
There would need to be some type of agreement between the Mint and Federal Reserve to have them distribute “special” quarters. But the Fed does not distribute coins unless requested by a financial institution.
So it is very curious how the US Mint can accomplish a wider distribution when they do not control a distribution network (except Mint stores).
It would seem to me the only ones that gain an advantage on these coins are the people that can afford to order ballistic bags of quarters.
too much work to dispose of the non-Ws
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
The Mint does not distribute coins and does not control the Federal Reserve and how they distributes coins. There are 12 Federal Reserve banks located in:
Agree, but both work for the Treasury Dept. The Fed Reserve banks do not supply financial institutions upon request. Banks order from privately owned armored carriers (Wells Fargo contracts with Loomis in my area) and take what they are given. This could be boxes of new or recycled quarters. In addition to the 12 Fed Reserve banks there are an additional 25 branch banks in the system.
From the OP's Coinworld link "Distribution of the five 2019-W quarter dollars involved randomly salting the W quarter dollars in 140,000 coin bags containing Philadelphia Mint and Denver Mint coins, with no more than 1 percent of the total being West Point strikes. The coins were then shipped to designated armored carriers contracted by the Federal Reserve to release coins into general circulation through participating banks and financial institutions."
My research is indicating that the Feb banks and branches may no longer physically handle coins and are only involved in having them shipped from the mint directly to contracted carriers. Confirmation of this would indicate whether Fed bank and branch locations are even relevant to where the W quarters pop up.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
They salt the bags before they leave the Mint. Distribution is through armored car companies, etc.
If you look at the first thread on the 2019s and the coin world links, you will have the answer to your distribution question.
They seem to be ahead of the game this time in making the w's before they distribute the coins.
Last time they put the Lowells in with the Am Memorial because they had already distributed all the D coins.
I still think there are more Am Memorials somewhere that have not been found yet.
I'd like to know if the early test pieces or "design validation strikes" will also be released and if they will be different in some way from the later strikes.
I don’t hate modern coin designs by any stretch of the imagination but I hate the “mint-a-badge” flat look of CAD designs. It’s like someone just took a photograph through an Adobe Photoshop filter and slapped it on a coin.
Wondering if each quarter will have a different privy mark or all the same. We shall see...
Have you seen a design validation strike for any other coin the Mint issued? They do NOT release them to the public.
Me, too. You figure there is SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE capable of artistry on the modern age? Completely flat, Microsoft Word font. Unbelievable dull
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
I'm not even sure what is meant by "design validation strike" - I've not heard that particular term before, and the article provides no details.
There is a photo at the top of the article of an obverse without the privy mark, so perhaps that is what they meant - there have been or will be test strikes before the privy mark is added to the design.
Although rare, there certainly are cases where early/pattern versions of coins are sent out from the mint, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Why not salt W in with mint sold BU rolls?
This way the big boys don’t get the upper hand —ballistic bags—
And my understanding is that a small bag of W was set on top of the ballistic bags, so no need to filter thru and pick them out.
All you need is 50k and your in the game
Before they strike the actual coins, they have to make sure that the design, as originally envisioned will strike properly. In the case of the article, I assume that they are referring to the preliminary (not final) version in the photo.
A bit of research on the Mint’s design validation strike. The below article references $100 HR Gold coin but should be similar for the ATB quarters.
—————
United States Mint technical team develops High Relief gold
By United States Mint
Published: Jul 28, 2015, 5 PM
“...Once the gold test blanks arrived, the coin development team struck 20 gold coins to test the coining characteristics of this high-relief concept. The strikes were successful, and the resulting coins were used to develop specifications for coin-to-capsule fit so capsule molds could be manufactured well ahead of final coin availability.
Shortly after the team completed research strikes, the final 2015 American Liberty, High Relief Gold design arrived. Once the team finalized the gold sculpts in plaster, they scanned and converted obverse and reverse plaster models into digital 3-D data. The technical staff loaded these data sets into computer-aided design software, where lettering, date, mint mark and other features were added. The team then adjusted the sculpts for maximum coinability and started the formal master tooling process.
For the gold coin, the team completed the Design Validation, or DV, die manufacturing process, worked on DV strikes, conducted coin-to-capsule fit tests, and sent the coins and capsules to Headquarters for acceptance...”
https://www.coinworld.com/news/precious-metals/united-states-mint-technical-team-develops-high-relief-gold.html
Design validation; design validation strikes
U S mint director David J. Ryder has made this a fun and interesting hobby !
__> @mgk said:
with a bunch of help from PCGS.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
Yeah, none of us were having any fun for the last 50 years
Well I purchased a lot of these auto pilot will have to review my subscriptions Thanks for the info
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
The following are some of the candidate designs for the Gold Coin and silver medals; but, with some modification and simplification, they could be possible privy marks with the “V75” referenced in the article:
Privy should be a simple V75 with no artwork.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
That would be nice and simple...
Ahhh, I lost my WW2 veteran uncle 2 years ago.. wish he’d made it to see one of these
Coin World: Mint releases images of 2020 W quarter privy mark
From Coin World:
"Because approval for the inclusion of the privy mark came after the National Park of American Samoa circulating quarter dollar striking had already begun at the Denver and Philadelphia Mints, the first 2020-W quarter dollars with privy mark from the West Point Mint to be released into circulation with Denver and Philadelphia Mint production will be the Weir Farm National Historic Site coins on April 6, according to Todd Martin, the U.S. Mint’s acting director for corporate communications."
No W Batcoins until after Nov. 16.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
Same link that @derryb posted and extracted the release dates.
Announced release dates for the 2020-W America the Beautiful quarter dollars through the Federal Reserve are:
April 6 for Weir Farm National Historic Site coins
June 1 for the Salt River Bay National Historical Park coins
Aug. 31 for the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Historical Park coins
Nov. 16 for the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve coins
American Samoa quarter dollars will be struck and released after the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve coins. No release date is announced for the 2020-W American Samoa coins, nor exactly how they will be distributed.
https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/u-s-mint-releases-images-of-2020-w-quarter-dollar-with-privy-mark
Edit to add Weir Farm.
This means P & D Batcoins on Feb. 3, but no W Batcoins until after Nov. 16. Batcoin is going to prove to be the most popular national park quarter. I bet they wait and put the W Batcoins in the 2021 Tuskagee (final coin of the National Park series) monster bags.
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
Typo, Feb 3?