Article: "Return to Good-Old GW Quarter Postponed"
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Return to Good-Old GW Quarter Postponed
By Paul M. Green, Numismatic News
January 04, 2008
<"META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="president bush, state quarter program, george washington quarter"> When President George W. Bush signed the appropriations bill Dec. 26, 2007, he extended the state quarter program by an extra year to honor the District of Columbia and five other American territories, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the American Virgin Islands and the Northern Marianas.
By implication, this postpones the return of the pre-1999 Washington quarter design by another year. Realistically, with this additional year, the powers that be can determine whether they really want the old design back at all, or would prefer something new along the lines of what was done with the Jefferson nickel.
In the meantime, we can examine the coins that were struck 1932-1998.
All bets are off when it comes to these Washington quarters. We have seen in recent years a strong price movement on the part of many Washington quarters and that includes both the pre-1965 90 percent silver issues as well as those issued since 1965. That even includes some dates from Philadelphia, which have been seen historically as available.
It may be a case where we are not going to see many Philadelphia Washington quarters rise to significantly higher price levels, but the fact is that new interest in the denomination might suggest that we should take a long, hard look at some of the dates of the past if for no other reason than to try and get some idea of what dates there might be from Philadelphia and other facilities where future supplies may not be enough to meet the potentially greater demand.
In all cases it must be remembered that the Washington quarter, especially in the 1930s, was not a heavily collected denomination. Even in later years like the 1940s and 1950s the Washington quarter was not a very popular set. It was a denomination that was too high for the budgets of most.
We have lots of proof of the situation. In the 1930s and even in the 1940s there were still many other types of quarters in circulation, and in most cases better dates were still possible. We see from the New York Subway Hoard purchased by the Littleton Coin Company in the 1990s that as late as the 1940s there were dates like the 1896-S, 1901-S, 1913-S and even the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter still in circulation. With dates such as that still circulating, there was really no incentive for the collectors of the day to use their limited funds to assemble sets of seemingly available Washington quarters.
The view of dealers was also important as it is the dealers who frequently acquire quantities of new dates. That, however, was a lot less common back in the 1930s and even right up through the 1960s. After all, dealers do not want to acquire coins they cannot sell. The feeling at the time was that there was little or no future in something like an uncirculated roll of Washington quarters. Collectors could get those out of circulation. That view would remain throughout the history of Washington quarters. With no mint sets many years, it means today that the supplies of Washington quarters may not be anything like what we'd expect.
The 1932 Washington quarter was the first Washington quarter. The Philadelphia mintage of 5,404,000 can be called the major mintage of the year as the totals at Denver and San Francisco were 436,800 and 408,000, respectively. That would make the 1932 the most likely of the three to have been encountered and saved by the people at the time. That said, it was the heart of the Great Depression. How many people would have been serious about saving a new quarter when it might buy them a meal? This was a time when 25 percent or more of the nation was unemployed and roughly 50 percent were behind in their house payments.
The working assumption has always been that the 1932 was available even in Mint State, and that still is seen in its current listing of $26 in MS-60. The MS-65 at $435 is more than twice as high as it was in 1998. Professional Coin Grading Service has reported more than 400 examples in MS-65 and up. That is a small total, especially when you consider the potential demand, and that makes the 1932 a date that has to be taken seriously. Not only are the numbers small, so is the mintage - there has been no Washington quarter since 1932 with a lower total.
If we look at the other Washington quarter dates of the 1930s from Philadelphia, we see that the usual assumption of large mintages is not really the case. In fairness, the totals were higher from Philadelphia than from Denver and San Francisco, but realistically the totals never reached 50 million and there are some lower totals as well. We see that the highest mintage, 1936, is at a perhaps surprising $115 in MS-65. That should not be all that surprising as we must remember these dates saw very little saving. The much lower-mintage 1937, with a production just under 20 million, is actually less expensive in MS-65 at $94. That's a little unusual as PCGS reported 663 examples of the 1936 in MS-65 as well as 301 in MS-66 and 32 in MS-67, but only 330 examples of the 1937 in MS-65, 214 in MS-66 and 43 in MS-67. That would seemingly mean the 1937 should be more expensive.
The grading service totals do not lie, but in the case of Washington quarters they must be taken with some understanding of the situation. In the case of the 1936 and 1937 and especially dates from the 1940s and 1950s, the MS-65 prices and definitely the lower Mint State grade prices are not high enough to see many coins sent in for grading. As a result, we may not be seeing a full and accurate picture. If anything, the coins likely to be sent in for grading are likely to be the very best in the eyes of their owners. That could make the totals somewhat misleading in terms of the actual supply of a specific date in a specific grade. We can say that PCGS has seen far fewer examples of the less expensive 1937, but that does not mean we can be certain that the 1937 is actually tougher than the 1936 or any other date. The totals are more prone to give a wrong impression in the case of lower-priced coins.
Based on its $250 price in MS-65 and relatively low 9,480,045 mintage, we can be fairly certain that the 1938 is the best Philadelphia Washington quarter of the 1930s. Precisely how good the 1938 really is might be open to discussion. PCGS has seen 342 examples in MS-65 along with 178 in MS-66 and 20 in MS-67. That makes it slightly better than the 1937 in terms of numbers graded, but again we cannot be sure how accurately the numbers reflect true numbers still around in collections. As it stands, when you look at a mintage of less than 10 million and that $250 listing today, you basically have to reach a conclusion that the 1938 is one of the best Philadelphia Washington quarters, but you cannot be sure just how good it really is in comparison to the others.
The dates of the 1940s present a different challenge to evaluate. In the 1940s the production of silver coins did increase significantly, especially during World War II. At that time there were record Walking Liberty half dollar mintages, and we see a similar situation with Philadelphia Washington quarters such as the 1942 and 1944. Both had mintages over 100 million while the 1943 was very close. With low MS-65 listings such as $37.50 for the 1944, we cannot really be very certain of the reliability of the grading service totals in terms of telling us precisely how many of a given date may exist in relation to another date.
What we can see is a trend, one that was also present for half dollars: silver coin mintages dropped significantly after the war. There was probably an excess of silver coins because of the large World War II totals and we see in the case of the Washington quarter a 22,556,000 total for the 1947 and a much lower 9,312,000 total for the 1949. That 1949 mintage is very low and it results in an MS-65 price of $65 for the 1949. That does not sound like a lot but no 90 percent silver Washington quarter since 1949 has a higher MS-65 price than the 1949 and that is something worth noting. In fact, the 1949 grading service totals show 281 examples in MS-65, 340 in MS-66, 24 in MS-67 and a single coin in MS-68. What those numbers suggest is that there is probably some validity to the notion that people send in their best possible examples of lower-priced coins because you do not usually see an MS-66 total higher than the MS-65 totals. What we have to do here is say that basically the 1949 is more available than an earlier date like the 1938, especially in MS-66, but that it also appears to be a much tougher date for the decade.
There is another factor to be considered, especially when you look at low Mint State grades and even MS-65 coins for the 1950s. That factor is melting. Even lower-mintage dates of the 1950s, like the 1953 at 18,664,920 or the 1955 at 18,558,381 and especially the very low mintage 1958 at 7,235,652, are priced between $20 and $40 in MS-65 today. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the price of silver rose to near $50 an ounce, these were dates that could have been melted in some numbers.
It was even possible in MS-65 as few people would have been cherrypicking rolls looking for the one MS-65 that might command a few dollars more. When you are getting $7.50 for any Washington quarter, sorting through a roll to pick out one in nicer condition is just not normally done. There is no doubt these dates were melted. Certainly even uncirculated rolls were melted - proof sets were also broken up for the silver. Supplies of extra-nice examples of the Philadelphia dates were reduced significantly.
We cannot be certain how many examples of any individual date were lost but it is safe to assume that even the lower-mintage dates like the 1953, 1955 and 1958 had large numbers of examples destroyed. Those coins destroyed might normally have been circulated, but there is a real possibility that the supply of top-quality examples might prove to be much less than we would expect if tested by additional demand.
The year 1964 was significant for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it would be the final year when silver would be used in Washington quarters, with the exception of special issues. It was also significant as it was the last year when the proof sets would be produced at Philadelphia. That is important as the Philadelphia proof sets at times had mintages in the millions. While many were melted, there are still solid supplies of some today. If you want a nice Philadelphia Washington quarter from a specific year, you may be able to buy the quarter from someone breaking up a proof set. Going all the way back to 1956 the proof Philadelphia Washington quarter is no more than $25 in Proof-65. After 1964, however, that option no longer exists.
The clad Washington quarters from 1965 onward were routinely ignored for many years. Part of the reason was that no large numbers of Washington quarter collectors existed even prior to elimination of silver. The elimination of silver and the fact that from 1965-1967 there were no mintmarks certainly did not help to create any new enthusiasm for collecting coins. As a result of that lack of saving, we have seen MS-65 prices of some of the previously ignored dates move to significantly higher levels although several are around $12 today.
In 1976 with the special dual date and Drummer Boy reverse, the Washington quarter celebrating the U.S. Bicentennial probably had the first serious attention from collectors and the public since silver had been eliminated in 1965. The Philadelphia 1976 is still available, but it's an important coin as it probably helped to pave the way for later commemoratives. Some Philadelphia Washington quarters that followed probably had commemoratives play an important part of their story.
Before the commemoratives there was an important change: starting in 1980 for the first time a small "P" mintmark was used on Washington quarters produced in Philadelphia. That may have inspired no extra saving, but it was a first and a change that remains with us today.
The Philadelphia clad Washington quarters after 1976 continued to be basically overlooked. The situation came to a head in 1982 and 1983. Those were the years when, confronted with making the first commemoratives in decades, the U.S. Mint decided to not make mint sets. The Mint was still nervous over the idea of commemoratives, especially a $10 gold commemorative for the Los Angeles Olympics. Today that may not seem like a major problem as the mint set remains a relatively small item in the yearly list of Mint offerings.
The lack of 1982 and 1983 mint sets, however, would prove to be important. The yearly mint set serves as a reserve supply of Mint State coins for a specific year. The one million or more sets sold each year can always be broken up to supply the market with a date that is in short supply, but that option does not exist for 1982 and 1983. There was another factor as well, in that people have limited budgets and their budgets for new coins in 1982 and 1983 in most cases was used up buying commemoratives.
The results are surprising. The 1982-P Washington quarter today lists for $32.50 in MS-65 and the 1983-P is the key of the modern dates at $45. In both cases the prices are up from under $5 back in 1998 and the supply shortage is very real. In fact, the 1983-P is a classic case of everyone did the wrong thing. The Los Angeles $10 Olympic gold coins were sold for over $300 each. For the same price you could have purchased 30 rolls of uncirculated 1983-P quarters, but no one did that as they all purchased the $10 Olympic commemorative. Today, the $10 gold coin is under its issue price but 30 uncirculated rolls of the 1983-P would list for well over $40,000.
No dates since have had the same situation. Increasingly, people are aware of the fact that clad quarters like the 1982-P and 1983-P can be in short supply. Dates like the 1985-P, 1988-P, 1989-P, 1994-P and 1995-P are now listed around $20 in MS-65 while the 1985-P is at $32. Those prices also mean uncirculated rolls are at solid levels. In most cases, no one would be surprised if the price increases continue as the coins were simply not saved.
The Philadelphia Washington quarter continues with the 50 state quarter program, and the addition of D.C. and the territories, but the legacy of older Philadelphia Washington quarters is well established. The state quarters have helped to increase interest in collecting, and well see how that affects Washington quarters. We will see if they return, and in what form, after the special program ends. We can expect to see more Philadelphia Washington quarters finally receive the attention they deserve. While none may be extreme rarities, the fact remains that they may well prove to be better in many cases than anyone ever imagined.
Numismaster Link
By Paul M. Green, Numismatic News
January 04, 2008
<"META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="president bush, state quarter program, george washington quarter"> When President George W. Bush signed the appropriations bill Dec. 26, 2007, he extended the state quarter program by an extra year to honor the District of Columbia and five other American territories, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the American Virgin Islands and the Northern Marianas.
By implication, this postpones the return of the pre-1999 Washington quarter design by another year. Realistically, with this additional year, the powers that be can determine whether they really want the old design back at all, or would prefer something new along the lines of what was done with the Jefferson nickel.
In the meantime, we can examine the coins that were struck 1932-1998.
All bets are off when it comes to these Washington quarters. We have seen in recent years a strong price movement on the part of many Washington quarters and that includes both the pre-1965 90 percent silver issues as well as those issued since 1965. That even includes some dates from Philadelphia, which have been seen historically as available.
It may be a case where we are not going to see many Philadelphia Washington quarters rise to significantly higher price levels, but the fact is that new interest in the denomination might suggest that we should take a long, hard look at some of the dates of the past if for no other reason than to try and get some idea of what dates there might be from Philadelphia and other facilities where future supplies may not be enough to meet the potentially greater demand.
In all cases it must be remembered that the Washington quarter, especially in the 1930s, was not a heavily collected denomination. Even in later years like the 1940s and 1950s the Washington quarter was not a very popular set. It was a denomination that was too high for the budgets of most.
We have lots of proof of the situation. In the 1930s and even in the 1940s there were still many other types of quarters in circulation, and in most cases better dates were still possible. We see from the New York Subway Hoard purchased by the Littleton Coin Company in the 1990s that as late as the 1940s there were dates like the 1896-S, 1901-S, 1913-S and even the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter still in circulation. With dates such as that still circulating, there was really no incentive for the collectors of the day to use their limited funds to assemble sets of seemingly available Washington quarters.
The view of dealers was also important as it is the dealers who frequently acquire quantities of new dates. That, however, was a lot less common back in the 1930s and even right up through the 1960s. After all, dealers do not want to acquire coins they cannot sell. The feeling at the time was that there was little or no future in something like an uncirculated roll of Washington quarters. Collectors could get those out of circulation. That view would remain throughout the history of Washington quarters. With no mint sets many years, it means today that the supplies of Washington quarters may not be anything like what we'd expect.
The 1932 Washington quarter was the first Washington quarter. The Philadelphia mintage of 5,404,000 can be called the major mintage of the year as the totals at Denver and San Francisco were 436,800 and 408,000, respectively. That would make the 1932 the most likely of the three to have been encountered and saved by the people at the time. That said, it was the heart of the Great Depression. How many people would have been serious about saving a new quarter when it might buy them a meal? This was a time when 25 percent or more of the nation was unemployed and roughly 50 percent were behind in their house payments.
The working assumption has always been that the 1932 was available even in Mint State, and that still is seen in its current listing of $26 in MS-60. The MS-65 at $435 is more than twice as high as it was in 1998. Professional Coin Grading Service has reported more than 400 examples in MS-65 and up. That is a small total, especially when you consider the potential demand, and that makes the 1932 a date that has to be taken seriously. Not only are the numbers small, so is the mintage - there has been no Washington quarter since 1932 with a lower total.
If we look at the other Washington quarter dates of the 1930s from Philadelphia, we see that the usual assumption of large mintages is not really the case. In fairness, the totals were higher from Philadelphia than from Denver and San Francisco, but realistically the totals never reached 50 million and there are some lower totals as well. We see that the highest mintage, 1936, is at a perhaps surprising $115 in MS-65. That should not be all that surprising as we must remember these dates saw very little saving. The much lower-mintage 1937, with a production just under 20 million, is actually less expensive in MS-65 at $94. That's a little unusual as PCGS reported 663 examples of the 1936 in MS-65 as well as 301 in MS-66 and 32 in MS-67, but only 330 examples of the 1937 in MS-65, 214 in MS-66 and 43 in MS-67. That would seemingly mean the 1937 should be more expensive.
The grading service totals do not lie, but in the case of Washington quarters they must be taken with some understanding of the situation. In the case of the 1936 and 1937 and especially dates from the 1940s and 1950s, the MS-65 prices and definitely the lower Mint State grade prices are not high enough to see many coins sent in for grading. As a result, we may not be seeing a full and accurate picture. If anything, the coins likely to be sent in for grading are likely to be the very best in the eyes of their owners. That could make the totals somewhat misleading in terms of the actual supply of a specific date in a specific grade. We can say that PCGS has seen far fewer examples of the less expensive 1937, but that does not mean we can be certain that the 1937 is actually tougher than the 1936 or any other date. The totals are more prone to give a wrong impression in the case of lower-priced coins.
Based on its $250 price in MS-65 and relatively low 9,480,045 mintage, we can be fairly certain that the 1938 is the best Philadelphia Washington quarter of the 1930s. Precisely how good the 1938 really is might be open to discussion. PCGS has seen 342 examples in MS-65 along with 178 in MS-66 and 20 in MS-67. That makes it slightly better than the 1937 in terms of numbers graded, but again we cannot be sure how accurately the numbers reflect true numbers still around in collections. As it stands, when you look at a mintage of less than 10 million and that $250 listing today, you basically have to reach a conclusion that the 1938 is one of the best Philadelphia Washington quarters, but you cannot be sure just how good it really is in comparison to the others.
The dates of the 1940s present a different challenge to evaluate. In the 1940s the production of silver coins did increase significantly, especially during World War II. At that time there were record Walking Liberty half dollar mintages, and we see a similar situation with Philadelphia Washington quarters such as the 1942 and 1944. Both had mintages over 100 million while the 1943 was very close. With low MS-65 listings such as $37.50 for the 1944, we cannot really be very certain of the reliability of the grading service totals in terms of telling us precisely how many of a given date may exist in relation to another date.
What we can see is a trend, one that was also present for half dollars: silver coin mintages dropped significantly after the war. There was probably an excess of silver coins because of the large World War II totals and we see in the case of the Washington quarter a 22,556,000 total for the 1947 and a much lower 9,312,000 total for the 1949. That 1949 mintage is very low and it results in an MS-65 price of $65 for the 1949. That does not sound like a lot but no 90 percent silver Washington quarter since 1949 has a higher MS-65 price than the 1949 and that is something worth noting. In fact, the 1949 grading service totals show 281 examples in MS-65, 340 in MS-66, 24 in MS-67 and a single coin in MS-68. What those numbers suggest is that there is probably some validity to the notion that people send in their best possible examples of lower-priced coins because you do not usually see an MS-66 total higher than the MS-65 totals. What we have to do here is say that basically the 1949 is more available than an earlier date like the 1938, especially in MS-66, but that it also appears to be a much tougher date for the decade.
There is another factor to be considered, especially when you look at low Mint State grades and even MS-65 coins for the 1950s. That factor is melting. Even lower-mintage dates of the 1950s, like the 1953 at 18,664,920 or the 1955 at 18,558,381 and especially the very low mintage 1958 at 7,235,652, are priced between $20 and $40 in MS-65 today. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the price of silver rose to near $50 an ounce, these were dates that could have been melted in some numbers.
It was even possible in MS-65 as few people would have been cherrypicking rolls looking for the one MS-65 that might command a few dollars more. When you are getting $7.50 for any Washington quarter, sorting through a roll to pick out one in nicer condition is just not normally done. There is no doubt these dates were melted. Certainly even uncirculated rolls were melted - proof sets were also broken up for the silver. Supplies of extra-nice examples of the Philadelphia dates were reduced significantly.
We cannot be certain how many examples of any individual date were lost but it is safe to assume that even the lower-mintage dates like the 1953, 1955 and 1958 had large numbers of examples destroyed. Those coins destroyed might normally have been circulated, but there is a real possibility that the supply of top-quality examples might prove to be much less than we would expect if tested by additional demand.
The year 1964 was significant for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it would be the final year when silver would be used in Washington quarters, with the exception of special issues. It was also significant as it was the last year when the proof sets would be produced at Philadelphia. That is important as the Philadelphia proof sets at times had mintages in the millions. While many were melted, there are still solid supplies of some today. If you want a nice Philadelphia Washington quarter from a specific year, you may be able to buy the quarter from someone breaking up a proof set. Going all the way back to 1956 the proof Philadelphia Washington quarter is no more than $25 in Proof-65. After 1964, however, that option no longer exists.
The clad Washington quarters from 1965 onward were routinely ignored for many years. Part of the reason was that no large numbers of Washington quarter collectors existed even prior to elimination of silver. The elimination of silver and the fact that from 1965-1967 there were no mintmarks certainly did not help to create any new enthusiasm for collecting coins. As a result of that lack of saving, we have seen MS-65 prices of some of the previously ignored dates move to significantly higher levels although several are around $12 today.
In 1976 with the special dual date and Drummer Boy reverse, the Washington quarter celebrating the U.S. Bicentennial probably had the first serious attention from collectors and the public since silver had been eliminated in 1965. The Philadelphia 1976 is still available, but it's an important coin as it probably helped to pave the way for later commemoratives. Some Philadelphia Washington quarters that followed probably had commemoratives play an important part of their story.
Before the commemoratives there was an important change: starting in 1980 for the first time a small "P" mintmark was used on Washington quarters produced in Philadelphia. That may have inspired no extra saving, but it was a first and a change that remains with us today.
The Philadelphia clad Washington quarters after 1976 continued to be basically overlooked. The situation came to a head in 1982 and 1983. Those were the years when, confronted with making the first commemoratives in decades, the U.S. Mint decided to not make mint sets. The Mint was still nervous over the idea of commemoratives, especially a $10 gold commemorative for the Los Angeles Olympics. Today that may not seem like a major problem as the mint set remains a relatively small item in the yearly list of Mint offerings.
The lack of 1982 and 1983 mint sets, however, would prove to be important. The yearly mint set serves as a reserve supply of Mint State coins for a specific year. The one million or more sets sold each year can always be broken up to supply the market with a date that is in short supply, but that option does not exist for 1982 and 1983. There was another factor as well, in that people have limited budgets and their budgets for new coins in 1982 and 1983 in most cases was used up buying commemoratives.
The results are surprising. The 1982-P Washington quarter today lists for $32.50 in MS-65 and the 1983-P is the key of the modern dates at $45. In both cases the prices are up from under $5 back in 1998 and the supply shortage is very real. In fact, the 1983-P is a classic case of everyone did the wrong thing. The Los Angeles $10 Olympic gold coins were sold for over $300 each. For the same price you could have purchased 30 rolls of uncirculated 1983-P quarters, but no one did that as they all purchased the $10 Olympic commemorative. Today, the $10 gold coin is under its issue price but 30 uncirculated rolls of the 1983-P would list for well over $40,000.
No dates since have had the same situation. Increasingly, people are aware of the fact that clad quarters like the 1982-P and 1983-P can be in short supply. Dates like the 1985-P, 1988-P, 1989-P, 1994-P and 1995-P are now listed around $20 in MS-65 while the 1985-P is at $32. Those prices also mean uncirculated rolls are at solid levels. In most cases, no one would be surprised if the price increases continue as the coins were simply not saved.
The Philadelphia Washington quarter continues with the 50 state quarter program, and the addition of D.C. and the territories, but the legacy of older Philadelphia Washington quarters is well established. The state quarters have helped to increase interest in collecting, and well see how that affects Washington quarters. We will see if they return, and in what form, after the special program ends. We can expect to see more Philadelphia Washington quarters finally receive the attention they deserve. While none may be extreme rarities, the fact remains that they may well prove to be better in many cases than anyone ever imagined.
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