An interesting observation in the silver Washington series

Bikingnut

I was just looking at the mintages on the Washington's, and noticed that the 42S has a mintage of 19.3 million, almost 2 million higher than the 42D, yet commands a premium over the 42D. Checking recent auction data, a 42S PCGS MS66 sold a couple days ago on ebay with a final price of $224. Most of the ones that I have kept my eye on have sold in the 225-250 range. The most extreme price rise was this one that sold yesterday in the Baltimore Signiture sale for a whopping $977! The Heritage value guide lists the 42S in the range of 190-240.


The last 42D PCGS MS66 that sold in a Heritage auction went for $75 on June 24. The Red Book shows mintage figures for the 44D at 14.6 million, 43D at almost 16.1 million, and the 47S at 5.5 million. Currently the trends are 95-120 for the 43D, 40-55 for the 44D and 35-45 for the 47S.

Why does the 42S command a premium when the 47S doesn't? It doesn't seem to make sense to me.

Another thing I noticed about the Signiture sale was that key dates seemed to be going strong even on problem coins. A 32D in an net ANACS AU55 holder, uncirculated details, but cleaned, sold in the $450 range. It was a nice looking coin though.

Other opinions welcomed.

haletj

Hi. The values are all with respect to how many original rolls were saved at the time, and nothing to do with the mintages. Someone told me once why fewer rolls were saved in 1949 for example, but now I forget. Certainly the market crash of 82-83 is why fewer rolls of coins of those years were saved, hence the big values. BTW I'm working on a raw ms64/65 washington set too! It is not my highest priority though. I need the big keys but I have 37-s and 40-d, and after 40 only need 41-s,42,44-d,44-s,47-d,48,50,50-d,56-d,59. Anyway, good luck with your set!

coingame2000

I didn't see the PCGS MS66 1942-S 25C to which you refer (that sold for $977) but I think it's safe to assume that more than one bidder was reasonably certain that the coin would upgrade -- there is no other reason whatsoever for this particular coin to realize that much!!!

Mike

Bikingnut

That's a big gamble. The 42D that I have in my raw set is as nice as that and should score a 66 easily, but I'm not even taking that chance. I've not been very fortunate with the grades on most of the Washington's I've sent in. All the ones that I thought should be solid 66's have come back in 65 holders.

wondercoin

I won the 42(s) quarter in the Heritage sale at just under $1000, because I felt the coin was an MS67 specimen and worth closer to $4,000. The coin would have sold for much more money, if I was pressed on the coin.

Blast white 1942(s) quarters in true MS67 grade (as well as pretty toned specimens) are very scarce coins IMHO. Very few blast white coins exist in grades higher than MS66 because the typical 42(s) quarter from rolls is generally, at best, around a Choice BU coin from my experience. MOREOVER, I COME ACROSS AN ORIGINAL ROLL OF 42(s) QUARTERS EVERY YEAR OR TWO. Try to locate an original BU roll of 42(s) quarters to even search for a possible MS67 specimen. It could very possibly take one a year or two to even find one to search through! Wondercoin

cladking

Coin collecting and the saving of current issues was in a state of flux during that era.
Many people had jobs so could afford to save a few coins for investment, but the country
was at war so saving was spotty. Back in the days that only a few tens of million coins
were being produced the coins could get into circulation very quickly so there may not
have been sufficient time to acquire these rolls. It wasn't until after the war that there
was enough wealth and interest that almost all the coins were saved in substantial num-
bers. From 1945 to 1964 the only better dates of any denomination are the "very low"
mintage years. Many people just didn't have access to these key dates so had to buy
them on the market.

After 1964, there was simply little or no interest. Very few of any of the coins were saved,
and this is especially true for Washington quarters. The few speculators and dealers in
these coins tended to usually save the low mintage dates like the '68-D while the higher
mintages were entirely ignored. The '82 and 83 issues were likely saved in similar numbers
as the others from the '80's, but since there were no mint sets, all the demand from the
handful of collectors was focused on the few coins which had been saved in singles and rolls.
In fact, despite the economic problems of this time, it's likely that more rolls of these dates
exist since the mint announced in advance that the regular mint sets were not to be produced.
It was obvious to even the most casual observer that these coins would have some potential
for price increases and even to the few unemployed a quarter was not a large investment in
1982. It should be remembered that the mint struck 10 to 20,000 of each of the single mint
souvenir sets for these dates. These four sets had no market in the mid-90's since there was
so very little interest. The '82-P quarter was selling for $125 a roll but few people noticed or
cared or even realized that it was contained in one of these four sets so they were often avail-
able for a couple dollars. Even today you won't see listings for these sets despite the fact that
many of the gems of these dates are found in these sets. These are not the same quality as
the regular mint sets and the gems are not of the same quality as the regular mint sets, but it's
tough to find nice coins in the few rolls that were set aside, and tough to find any of the few
rolls that were set aside.

The souvenir sets have been quietly gaining a lot of attention over the last few years because
of their tiny mintages, availability, and quality. There are no known varieties in any of the reg-
ular issue souvenir sets. This also applies to the no-FG halfs and the type "d" quarters from the
'82 and '83's.

wondercoin

CK: Good analysis

The 1942(p) quarter is also actually a very difficult coin to obtain in grades above MS66 (and even pure white solid MS66 coins are not easy). Actually, 42(d) is the easiest of all (3) 1942 coins in high grade, but, all 1942 quarters are tough to obtain (especially blast white) in grades above MS66.

1942(s) is one of my personal favorite dates in the "short set" of silver quarters (41-64). Just try to find a solid MS67 specimen and you'll see why Wondercoin

quarterjack

Mitch, looks like a good buy on the 42S. Good luck on the upgrade. Most rolls i've had the opprotunity to look at here in Ohio have already been cherrypicked, lots of BU rolls of Washingtons available but rest assured they have been screened previously for 65+. JMHO

Dave

Bikingnut

Tell us what happens with the possible upgrade. I would be interested to find out.

haletj

Thanks for the info cladking. By the way I've bought about 10 of those souvinir sets, and I got great coins out of the Denver ones, but the Philly ones are terrible. Are there nice Philly ones out there? The Philly coins have surfaces that look like they're covered in tiny nicks, and have no luster. This is unfortunate also, because the strikes are much better than what I've seen in rolls. So far I have about 5 each of 82/83pd quarters, and one 83-d is the only one I'm 100% happy with as a total gem.

cladking

The '82-P is occasionally seen in the souvenir set as a gem. The 83-P is a little more
difficult. It shows up often enough as a low grade gem (MS-65) but isn't much seen
any nicer. The 82-D is somewhat easier and the '83-D easier yet. Even with the Den-
vers only about 10 to 15% will make MS-65. Most souvenir set coins appear to be taken
from regular press runs unlike the regular mint set coins which are made from new dies
under higher pressure. There does appear to be some care taken to select premium
coins from better dies, but they rarely have the punch that regular mint set coins have.
Varieties are unusual in sets because of the relatively low number of dies used. Most mo-
dern varieties involve only a handfull of dies, so the odds of these being used for mint
sets is low. Mint set dies are used for about 30,000 strikes so many of the varieties have
populations in this ballpark. Most of the souvenir sets are assembled from a lot fewer
dies and are made in small quantiy. It is likely that the absence of varieties in these is
just chance.

Many of the scratches on the '82-P's are planchet problems which weren't struck out.