There were no mint sets made in '82 & '83 - does that affect the rarity and key date designation

Tade

A lot of collectors collect mint sets and some collect quarters. If the mint did not make a
mint set in 1983, is this why the 83 quarter is becoming rare in unc.? Where do you get unc if not
usually from a mint set?

Tade

gmarguli

Yes, that is why the 82 & 83 quarters are rare. You get unc coins from rolls, but not many of there dates were saved.

The mint did make "Souvenir Sets" for those years.

cladking

The souvenir sets are an important source for the coins of these dates. Unfortunately
there are relatively few gems coming from these sets. Mint set coins are specially han-
dled first strikes from new dies but until the mid 90's there were no special steps taken
to assure the quality of the souvenir sets. Most of the coins do look as though someone
selected better examples right from the regular coining operations, but gems are most
atypical in these sets. The '82 and '83 sets are the same. Ten to twenty thousand of
each of these were produced depending on the year and date. Many were cut up in those
days to update peoples collections. And these sets have never gotten much attention.
The '82 quarter is especially difficult to find nice in the set. The '83 often will be choice MS-64
but gems of these ar also difficult to find. Gem dimes are a little more common than other
date souvenir sets. Denver coins will average higher quality just like with the regular sets
but are not necessarily more common in the highest grades. These sets were made and
packaged in batches so there is some variation in packaging and quality from on to the next.

The '82-P quarter is probably even tougher than the '83-P in grades over MS-62. Numismatic
News did a series of articles about the "82-P in '84-'85 and many people started setting
these aside. Many of these are AU, but these "extra" coins have always served to suppress
the price. It's improbable that very many of the coins set aside later were choice unc. A very
small percentage of the '82-P's made for circulation were attractive when they were new. The
'83-P was a little better.