The Latest Developments On Washington Silver, Clad & State Quarters, Including A Recent Buyout!?

wondercoin

What does one do next when they already own the greatest set of St. Gaudens $20 Gold? Well, it looks like our fellow board member (Elite) has answered that difficult question - you go out and buy a #1 set of MS State Quarters! Welcome to the world of moderns Mr. Elite! And congratulations to Dr. Epstein (who appears to have sold the set to Elite). I supplied a number of coins to Dr. Epstein’s MS State Quarter set (directly and through my prior biz deals with Doug Rall who owned most of that #1 set before Dr. Epstein) and can happily share in the future some of the history on a number of the cool coins in the collection.

Earlier tonight, Heritage sold (in a 3+ hour affair dedicated only to Washington / State quarters, etc.) the Stephenville Collection of 1932-2021 Quarters including most of the MS State quarters in the set. With just a few exceptions, I thought the state quarter portion of the collection sold at below average to average prices. But, I believe the lowest pop coin in the collection might have been just a pop 6/0 (the Missouri) and without question in today’s market it’s all about the pop 1-5 coins (for which Rall/Epstein/Elite set has many, but Stephenville may have had None. The pop 6, 7, 8 State Quarter coins tonight generally sold for weak to average prices only. Interestingly, a pocket of strength appeared in the 2005-2008 business strike state quarter coins as opposed to the 1999-2004 portion of the set. The first year, 1999 quarters, were pretty weak tonight and that is usually not the case in this series. But, again, there were no great “anchor” coins in the 1999 offerings tonight (e.g. GA MS68’s were “MIA”; in fact I don’t recall there even being GA coins in 67 in the sale, but I wasn’t paying close attention to MS67 offerings generally).

In a bit, I’ll cover the Clad quarter set, the Silver quarter set and the varieties for both (as well as the National Park coins) that sold off tonight in the Heritage Washington Quarter sale. There were some very cool coins in those portions of the sale!

I just tried to enter a coin in my Registry Set that I won tonight from the Heritage Stephenville Collection. It’s registered to another user. Can Heritage please ask the former owner of these coins to remove them from his registry set. Thanks.

Wondercoin

braddick

"I just tried to enter a coin in my Registry Set that I won tonight from the Heritage Stephenville Collection. It’s registered to another user. Can Heritage please ask the former owner of these coins to remove them from his registry set. Thanks."

You may very well have better and more rapid success doing it yourself through the Registry portal with PCGS. I've had to do this a number of times and it usually is fixed with a day or so.

wondercoin

Thanks Pat. I just entered another coin I won in the Heritage Weekly dedicated sale and, once again, that coin is still in the previous owner’s registry set. When I did this, I essentially did go through the Registry portal - yes? Me and now possibly hundreds of others who won these coins last night are all sending notes to Set Registry I suspect.

Wondercoin

davewesen

I won one as well and just checked .... This cert is currently in a user's private Set Registry Inventory.

What was the name of the registry set(s) the Stephenville Collection was in?

seatedlib3991

Over at the NGC site there is quite the discussion going on about modern coins. Thanks for taking the time to tell about this. james

braddick

Many collectors will place their coins within the Registry so other users don't "steal" the insert number and use the coin as if it was their own when it isn't.
Although it would be helpful once a coin is sold if that collector would remember to remove from their inventory within the Registry I can't really fault them too much for not doing so and PCGS's reminder message- sent once the new owner has made that request- is acted upon.
On an additional note: If for whatever reason the coin isn't removed PCGS will do so after a few days perhaps with a bit of proof from the new owner.
At least this has all been my experience.

wondercoin

These coins were in a HUGE, HIGH PROFILE player’s registry set. He should remove them all ASAP now that Heritage sold his coins. Wondercoin

Edited to add: I left a voice-mail for Mark Feld to see if he could help address this situation. Of course, he has already started to get things rolling!

calgolddiver

@wondercoin said:
These coins were in a HUGE, HIGH PROFILE player’s registry set. He should remove them all ASAP now that Heritage sold his coins. Wondercoin

complete agreement ... the former owner should remove ownership for all sold items ... however the set is retired ... perhaps they wish to retain that moment in history ?!?

wondercoin

‘’Over at the NGC site there is quite the discussion going on about modern coins. Thanks for taking the time to tell about this. James’’

No doubt discussing the greatest classic set collectors diving into modern registry sets as well? 😉

Wondercoin

seatedlib3991

more of a dog fight over what IS a modern and who collects them. james

davewesen

@calgolddiver said:

@wondercoin said:
These coins were in a HUGE, HIGH PROFILE player’s registry set. He should remove them all ASAP now that Heritage sold his coins. Wondercoin

complete agreement ... the former owner should remove ownership for all sold items ... however the set is retired ... perhaps they wish to retain that moment in history ?!?

when a set is retired, the items remain in the set. If I got the name correct, they have/had 504 sets .... could be hundreds if not thousands of certs.

cladking

@seatedlib3991 said:
Over at the NGC site there is quite the discussion going on about modern coins. Thanks for taking the time to tell about this. james

All those posts and the only observation that really matters is in Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker's article on CoinWeek;

https://coinweek.com/1983-p-kennedy-half-dollar-a-collectors-guide/

Only two '83-P half dollars trade per day on eBay. Here it is a $4 coin and it is swamped by the numbers of things like the '09-S VDB cent.

People need to wake up while two coins hitting the market in one day still swamps the demand.

Copperindian

@braddick: Registry sends out a request to the previous owner to remove the sold coin from their inventory. If they fail to do so within 3 biz days, the new owner furnishes Registry with time date stamped pics of the obv & rev of the coin in question. When that’s done & submitted, Registry places the coin in the new owner’s inventory, usually within a day or two.

@davewesen: you’re correct. I believe coins may be sold & removed from retired Registry sets without “changing” the set. The rating or positioning of the set when it was retired essentially remains the same.

1tommy

Well I have taken the last year off from collecting and this sale has pulled me back in once again. I bid on over 16 coins and won only 2. I will never understand why anyone would put up a whole set in one auction. Also heritage must have so many coins they were running another coin auction at the same time.

I was bidding on the 32 to 64 with varieties and thought some did good but most sold way below guide. I also think that if I had not bid on those other 14 coins they would have sold for even cheaper. I am glad that I got two coins from Andy's set as he has built sets in all the series. Guess it was time to sell.

First coin is the 1944 d ddo 101 in MS 66+ with only 1 coin better. I was able to add this coin to my set so maybe they released all of them.

Enjoy Tom

wondercoin

RadioContestKing. Same could be said here. If memory serves me right, I was your direct underbidder on that 44-D and maybe even the other coin you won. If I had no bid on that 44-D, man would you have bought it even cheaper! lol.

Likewise, on the dozen or more varieties I won, you may well have been my underbidder on many of them.

The Wash. Silver quarter varieties overall sold at soft to average levels in my opinion. And many at a fraction of the P.G. But, that was the case with the regular issue coins in the series as well (with the 57-P being an exception). Some coins with P.G. Values at up to $16,000 or $17,000 had a hard time achieving even half that level (without CAC stickers of course). I watched in mild disbelief as other coins with values in the $5,000 - $10,000 range fought to achieve sales levels not much more than 1/3 or so of that value. I let almost all these coins go without a bid even though some were higher grade than the current coin in my set. Why? Because, the pops have exploded on these MS68 coins and I believe I’ll have many more opportunities to buy them at a future date (and these coins in this set often were not stickered and if given the choice I prefer them with a sticker). Also, I haven’t submitted a number of my specimens for the better part of 10 years now and expect that some will upgrade as well when I do.

Wondercoin

1tommy

Did you get the 1945 s DDO 101? That was a Nice looking coin.My other coin is the 1957 d in MS 67+ CAC that I feel like I stole that coin. I am sure that you got a few of the ones I was bidding on and most were just upgrades to the ones in my set already so was not inclined to go that high.

I also agree that its time to hold off buying MS 68 as it sure does seem the pops are going up pretty fast. I would just rather see these sets sell half at a time and give a poor guy like me a chance. My Bell was ringing all the time lol

I bid over 5 grand last night and only won 1200. It was fun to sit and watch and this is only my second MS 67+ coin cac.

Enjoy Tom

wondercoin

‘’Did you get the 1945 s DDO 101’’

I did as a matter of fact. I got “run up” to nearly the most I wanted to pay for that lot ($960).

Wondercoin

olympicsos

Let's be honest here, as much as people like to knock on Laura Gardin Fraser's design not being initially selected, the Washington Quarter is the most attractive of the "presidential portrait" coins, John Flanagan was an assistant to Saint Gaudens.

braddick

@olympicsos said:
Let's be honest here, as much as people like to knock on Laura Gardin Fraser's design not being initially selected, the Washington Quarter is the most attractive of the "presidential portrait" coins, John Flanagan was an assistant to Saint Gaudens.

You don't think the Presidential portrait of Benjamin Franklin warrants consideration?

((( )))

NorCalJack

I also was able to purchase of few of these varieties. Of course the one I bought I paid just under price guide and the ones > @wondercoin said:

‘’Did you get the 1945 s DDO 101’’

I did as a matter of fact. I got “run up” to nearly the most I wanted to pay for that lot ($960).

Wondercoin

Well I ran you up on that coin. That was one I wanted, but it got to be too rich since I had my eye on other coins. This is one of the 5 coins I bought last night.

1939-S FS-101 MS-67

I ended up bidding on 9 coins and won 5. The 1950 D/S MS-66 was going for really low money and although it was not on my list to buy I could not let it go that cheap. So I ran someone up about $1,000 when I bowed out.

wondercoin

Norcaljack. It was a “feast” on the silver varieties for sure! Congratulations on that 1939-S FS101-MS67! I won the 1939 D/S MS66 (pop 4/1)! Winning Bid: $550 ($660.00 w/*BP). P.G. $1,500.00. No complaints about that price.

If my math is right, I bid on 60 lots in the sale and won 30 of them. I haven’t bid seriously in a Wash. quarter auction for years as I simply believe my Hall of Fame Registry set has too many potential upgrade candidates to chase coins graded 1/2 point to 1 point higher at the moment. Not sure what to do next with my set. You might be “feasting” on my coins one day soon! 😂

Wondercoin

seatedlib3991

@wondercoin. I have had several people refer to you as an expert where modern coins are involved. I was wondering if you have any advice to offer. I have been looking at putting together a slabbed set of the silver State Quarters I am not so much looking for investment advice as much as I don't have a great understanding of all the different designations Ultra, deep proof, etc. Also was wondering if there is a "most popular' vein such as how many people who collect what I collect (Seated coins) tend towards the 35 to 55 grades. any information appreciated. james

NorCalJack

Here is another coin I bought in the Stephenville Collection

I had an AU-58 in my collection that I cherrypicked off Ebay but wanted an MS coin so I was lucky enough to buy this one.

wondercoin

@wondercoin. I have had several people refer to you as an expert where modern coins are involved. I was wondering if you have any advice to offer. I have been looking at putting together a slabbed set of the silver State Quarters I am not so much looking for investment advice as much as I don't have a great understanding of all the different designations Ultra, deep proof, etc. Also was wondering if there is a "most popular' vein such as how many people who collect what I collect (Seated coins) tend towards the 35 to 55 grades. any information appreciated. james

James: Congratulations on branching out from your cool classic set to the realm of modern state quarters. I obviously don’t know you personally, but I do suspect you are happy pursuing all the various grades available to the Seated coin collector. By selecting the proof state quarters you are presently considering, in most cases (not every single case) you have a choice of 2 grades; namely 69 and 70 (putting aside the cameo designations). My suggestion is to consider pursuing the Mint State counterparts. There you will literally have upwards of (10) choices of grade (just ask our esteemed board member “Oreville” about that). I think that might “deliver” the best excitement for you as you try to build at least a 100 coin set of P and D mint State Quarters (not counting “Satin Finish” P and D coins as well). Best of luck!

Wondercoin.

wondercoin

Incidentally, I didn’t formally address the variety portion of the quarter sale with my commentary here as the coins have been discussed by a few of the collectors who purchased them. The bottom line was some of the variety coins saw weaker bidding than I expected and, of course, I won some of them (as did others). Other variety coins performed as expected and a few did very well.

The Clad quarter series had a very cool 1970-D pop 1/0 “anchor coin” that in my view did extremely well. Congratulations to the winning bidder - whoever that was! There wasn’t too much more in the way of “great” Clad quarters in the sale, but I did manage to “run off” with a pop 2/1 1979-D (Registry double weight) MS67+ for what I considered to be a great price. At least one other clad quarter collector privately commented to me that the only reason I won that 79-D so inexpensively was that he essentially wanted to keep his powder dry for the state quarter portion of the sale (coming up right after those clad quarters) for which he did quite well in the sale filling his want list (and outbidding me on at least 3 coins that I wanted in that section).

As always, just my 2 cents.

Wondercoin.

seatedlib3991

@wondercoin . Thanks for your advice. I have 2 empty 45 slab Eagle coin albums to fill up. the only thing I am sure of so far is that I want to do the 50 State coins. I will have to do more research on the other options you mentioned, but then that is just part of the fun. In another thread I mentioned I plan to buy about 5 coins in 69/70 and stick to one grading service. My hope is I can develop an eye for the grading difference. let me know if that sounds like folly. james

wondercoin

Seatedlib3991: I don’t think you will master the 69/70 proof line by reviewing just 5 coins. At 500 coins, you will likely feel like you haven’t achieved that either. But, you will certainly make progress and have fun with your coins whether you review 5 or 500!

That said- I told you already what would likely give YOU years of pleasure - trying to build the best set possible of MS State Quarters!

Wondercoin

Stooge

@seatedlib3991 said:
@wondercoin. I have had several people refer to you as an expert where modern coins are involved. I was wondering if you have any advice to offer. I have been looking at putting together a slabbed set of the silver State Quarters I am not so much looking for investment advice as much as I don't have a great understanding of all the different designations Ultra, deep proof, etc. Also was wondering if there is a "most popular' vein such as how many people who collect what I collect (Seated coins) tend towards the 35 to 55 grades. any information appreciated. james

IMHO I would entertain a nice set of the 50 SHQ's + 6 territories of the silver proofs in PR70DC with the flag slabs that PCGS has.

yspsales

I agree with the MS direction of state quarters.

A bunch of fun!

wondercoin

Radio Contest King wrote - ‘’ Did you get the 1945 s DDO 101? That was a Nice looking coin.’’

I responded with - “I did as a matter of fact. I got “run up” to nearly the most I wanted to pay for that lot ($960).”

Norcaljack wrote: “Well I ran you up on that coin. That was one I wanted, but it got to be too rich since I had my eye on other coins.”

NOW THE STORY GETS INTERESTING FROM HERE AS I WILL SOON WRITE!

Wondercoin

1tommy

Mitch.

I am friends with John and actually placed his MS 66+ bought from another forum member. When your ready to tell the Rest of the Story I will come back and add another coin to the Mix. Honestly I am Very disappointed with the current Variety guy at our host. Enough said....... I have seen many coins in collectors sets that are not right and will be interesting to see now what you think?

Enjoy Tom

wondercoin

Thanks Tom… the story is one step away from being told. Hopefully, we can all tell the story next week!

Wondercoin.

NorCalJack

So here is another coin I purchase at the same auction two weeks ago.

I am sure @Wondercoin bid me up on this coin since he needed it for his set and has a pop 3/1. I had an N1 I found raw but needed to upgrade. Happy to add this to my registry set.

wondercoin

Congratulations Norcaljack.

I was your immediate underbidder having bid $1,260 on the coin. I wasn’t overly aggressive on the sale and as I mentioned before, I bid on 60 total lots and won 30 of them. I’m still undecided on the future of my quarter set. I can go anywhere from selling virtually every coin next year to keeping a “box of 20 of my most favorite quarters”, to keeping only the clad and/or state quarter set, or getting the collection in the best looking shape it could be in over the next few years to sell it off ahead the 100th Anniversary of the series. I have a very tough decision on what to do with these 1000+ Washington quarters including many dupes.

I only know 1 thing for certain. I will not be selling all my quarters in a single night’s auction! 😉

Wondercoin.