I Found a 2020 "W" !!

DBSTrader2

Talk about dumb luck!

I stopped by one of my local banks yesterday to cash my B-Day check and get a few quarter rolls in the mix, but their lobby was locked, there was a long line of cars in the drive-thru, and several people standing in line for the ATM. On occasion, a man would come out from the bank, lock the door behind him, & ask the few people not in line for the ATM what business they had & "did they have an appointment? ". I figured I wasn't gonna waste my time waiting there, so I swung by a local branch of my other bank instead.

They had to go to the back to get some rolls (teller only had 1 & I wanted 3), but when they did, it was with a tray of brand-new Loomis rolls. A quick glance at the ends indicated they were all brand-spanking-new issues. It got my hopes up, in that I didn't have any "P" or "D" of the last 2 2019 issues or any of the 2020's, but, at the same time, after looking for so long, it was in a way a shame that I'd likely only come out with 1 mintmark's worth of 1 of the missing issues, and still lack all the others.

I opened the first roll, and all were 2020"P" from The USVI - - EXCEPT 1 old New Hampshire mixed in. Not sure how that one got there. But at least now I had the 3 necessary 2020 USVI P's.

I checked them all to see if any of them happened to have a "W", and found none. If the same held true for the other 2 rolls, I was going to post a message here asking if "W" mints were usually only found in bags, and never made it into fresh Loomis-wrapped rolls.

The second roll was pretty much the same thing, only it had 1 eagle-reverse and 1 "Massachussetts" state quarter in the mix. Again, I wasn't sure how those got wrapped that 95% were brand-spanking-new 2020 USVI's and just 1 or 2 oddballs in there.

The 3rd roll was more of the same, EXCEPT the next to last coin I examined was a pristine "W"!! Such a cool find! I never specifically set out searching for them, but was pretty exciting to find, given their relative rarity & the low number of rolls I was dealing with. So it made my day.

So now I have a ton of new 2020 USVI "P" mints beyond what I need, but still need all other 2020's (P & D).

Anyone want to swap?

thisistheshow

Felicidades!

That's a good find.

Onastone

Wow, wild, wonderful!!! Finding a W is virtually like finding that needle in a haystack! Congrats!

Exbrit

Good story - haven't been to the bank in almost a year. Maybe worth a visit.

Jimnight

Nice!

Kliao

Congrats! B-day gift from the bank.

ricko

Congratulations.... Have not seen a W in these parts....I have a couple people looking for them. However, they are not coin collectors, so you can imagine how infrequently they check their change....Cheers, RickO

johnny9434

In glad to hear that someone is finding them

ms70

Wow. A lot of forumites had birthdays this week!

Happy Birthday!

davewesen

What is the population or ratio of W quarters to all quarters?

7Jaguars

Roughly 2,000,000 divided by 1,000,000,000 = 0.2% for each release (if you count D and P quarters as the denominator).

I have found only one in the wild but confess to almost no cash transactions, except occasionally at fast food places. The one I got was a War In The Pacific at the Chic Filet at LAX just before things got shut down for the pandemic. That was far more enjoyable than those I bought here in the classifieds.

derryb

@davewesen said:
What is the population or ratio of W quarters to all quarters?

2 million W's for each of the five ATB quarters issued in 2019 and the five issued in 2020. Assumption is that 1 million W's get shipped to each of the two mints for inclusion in the ballistic coin bags ($50k worth) that get shipped to Federal Reserve banks for normal coin rolling and circulation. Last planned ATB will be issued in 2021 (Tuskagee Airmen). Remains to be seen if there will be a W but why not?

Typical mintage of of these ATB quarters that have a W version ranges from 231 million (total P & Ds) for the 2019 War in the Pacific issue to 1092.8 million for the latest Salt River Bay issue.

I search boxes for W's. Very limited availability currently with the so called coin shortage. Went from an avg. availability of 35 boxes a week to four a week. Uncirc. W's are found only in shiny new rolls which typically are in a box of 50 shiny new rolls. Still coming across boxes of shiny new 2019 issues. Dirty old quarters are found in such rolls because they were left in the rolling drum when the new coins got dumped in for rolling. Shiny new rolls will avg. about one W per roll since the mixing now takes place at the P & D mints and more evenly distributes them. First few releases were mixed at the rolling facilities (smaller bags of W's shipped separately and "salted" into the rolling tub during rolling) that resulted in less evenly distributed W's and a lot more W's in rolls that had W's. I was finding up to 15 W's per roll in the earliest two issues.

DBSTrader2

ms70: Truth be told, my B-Day was LAST month............. just took me this long to actually get & then cash the check....

bsshog40

I have never seen any W's out here in W.Tx. I wound up buying the 2019's on ebay. Won't be doing that again. Congrats on your find!

Raybo

WQuarterFreddie

Which W quarter did you find?

matt_dac

I actually found several 2020 P quarters in change thus far (which is actually very surprising). I think I've found one 2019 quarter in the wild. I have never seen any W's in the wild though.

DBSTrader2

The "W" I found was the U.S. Virgin Islands. That and the rolls of "P" USVI's are the only 2020's I've found so far. Still looking for 3 each P & D of all the others, and 3 D's for USVI. As well as 3 each P & D of the last 2 issued for 2019.

OAKSTAR

Congrats on that find! 👍🏻 👍🏻