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Availability of W quarters

Hi Everyone,

I'm brand new to this site /chat room. I purchased a $500.00 box of fort lowell quanters searching for w quarters. I searched through every single roll of quarter, and did not find a single w coin.

Should I not have expected to at least find one w quarter?

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    Thank you both for your response.

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    derrybderryb Posts: 36,192 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 20, 2019 2:55PM

    Lowell W's were released by the mint after they sent the Lowell P & Ds out for ciruclation. So, they added the Lowell W's with the Mariana W's and put both in the mint monster bags of Mariana P & Ds that were sent to the Federal Reserve branch banks for rolling/boxing and release to local banks. There are no Lowell W's in the Lowell P or D boxes. There are Lowell W's in the Mariana boxes. I just finished searching a box of shiny new Marianas that I picked up today. Results: 146 Lowell W's and no Mariana W's. I got eight more identical boxes from the same bank. Haven't searched them yet but they are all shiny Marianas.

    Keep an open mind, or get financially repressed -Zoltan Pozsar

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    thisistheshowthisistheshow Posts: 9,386 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I just want one... :D I know they're out there....

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    I quit looking after searching 10 boxes not finding a single one cannot even find a roll of new quarters anywhere around where I live. I did manage to get one Mariana in change when I bought a cup of coffee at Wawa. Seems they're just not around here the closest Federal Reserve Bank is in Manhattan that's 80 miles from where I live all we get is mixed quarters no thank gets full rolls of brand new quarters nickels dimes pennies anything. I would have liked to get one of each.

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    @derryb said:
    I just finished searching a box of shiny new Marianas that I picked up today. Results: 146 Lowell W's

    Whaaaat?? How do you get a box of all new Quarters??? What is your secret?

    I find I need to go through 2-3 boxes to find one W, I have got a dozen now.

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    derrybderryb Posts: 36,192 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 4, 2020 5:41PM

    @nickelsciolist said:

    @derryb said:
    I just finished searching a box of shiny new Marianas that I picked up today. Results: 146 Lowell W's

    Whaaaat?? How do you get a box of all new Quarters??? What is your secret?

    I find I need to go through 2-3 boxes to find one W, I have got a dozen now.

    The banks and their customers are not able to order a box of new quarters. The bank takes what it gets from the carrier and the customer takes what he gets from the bank.

    The carriers get quarters to roll from two sources: circulated quarters turned in to them by the banks for re-rolling and big bags of new quarters supplied by the US mint via Federal Reserve banks and their branches.

    I have yet to find the two mixed together in a $500 box of rolls and I have searched over one thousand boxes. This makes me believe that the carrier occasionally drags a bag of new quarters over to the rolling machine and rolls only new quarters for a while. I also believe that the carriers don't order these bags from the Fed unless they are running low on recycled quarters.

    I have not seen a box of new quarters in two months, and I'm searching 5-10 boxes a day four days a week. Once I open a box, the enders tell me all I need to know: the box is new quarters or it is recycled quarters. I don't go any further with a box of recycled quarters; pack it up and use it to buy the next box. The goal is that box of new coins. While I have not seen it, it is possible that part of a box may be rolls of new coins. This is why I look at all of the end coins. Time spent opening and searching 50 rolls of recycled quarters looking for a few circulated W's and then disposing of all the loose non-W's is better spent acquiring more boxes.

    I begin my daily three hour route with 6-8 opened boxes in the trunk. I swap at some banks, turn in for cash at other banks and even have a few banks ordering me 1-4 boxes weekly which I pay cash for. I have four different routes and hit each branch only once a week. My best boxes have come from Wells Fargo, but I also visit three other banks. Their various branches make up my weekly route.

    Any W found in a box of old quarters is one that entered the market from a new roll, found it's way back to the carrier with old quarters and, although it may still look new, is now a circulated quarter itself. I have yet to see any proof that carriers in my area are mixing new coins with old coins in the rolling machine tub.

    Keep an open mind, or get financially repressed -Zoltan Pozsar

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    Wow. Now THAT is a serious operation! I thought I was intense with a couple of boxes a week! Sounds to me like your logic makes sense about how the distribution works, and no one can argue that your approach has paid off. I have actually never seen a box of "new" quarters, and now I see how it would be that you have. Yes, I recognize that all of mine are circulated in the sense of being out of the roll...but I am thinking that of these coins are actually circulated coins in the technical sense. That said, I'm sure yours are in detectably better condition than any I have, and will have a much higher premium if these things end up to be valuable in the long run.

    Well...I have a new hero, and his name is derryb!

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    nickelsciolistnickelsciolist Posts: 195 ✭✭✭

    Finally!!!

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