So I was looking through a small hoard of 40% silver Bicentennial quarters
OldeTowneCoinShoppe
Posts: 288 ✭✭✭
. . . and I have a question. Did the mint intend for circulation examples to have different finishes? I am noticing a majority with satiny texture, but some (perhaps 10%) have heavy matte texture. Just wondering!
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Do you have photos showing the two types of coin?
I'm not an expert like others on this forum, but I have a speculation... could there be a slight difference which is due to the state of the die used to strike the coins? Perhaps early strikes vs later produce slightly different luster?
That is probably due to the progression of die wear as stated above by @steve_richardson. I would presume that the 10% with Matte surfaces is how the dies were originally prepared for use and after striking XXX number of coins that finish began to soften so that the majority of coins are Satiny in appearance.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
I would like to see some photos.
I was working at Coin World when the Bicentennial coins were struck.
It is quite possible that what you are mentioning was the result of a change in the finish of the dies due to normal die erosion. It is hard to say without pictures.
However, there is another possibility. Due to poor wording of the bill that authorized the 40% silver clad Quarters Halves and Dollars, 15 Million of each total in either Proof or Uncirculated condition, all of the coins had to be struck by July 4, 1976. Several million sets of either were produced as numismatic items and packaged and sold in a timely manner, but by May or so of 1976 there were still several million planchets of each denomination left unstruck. To meet the deadline the remaining planchets were run through standard high-speed presses and dumped into "barrels" (that is the term I heard used) and put into storage. It was thought at the time that they would probably be melted some day to recover the silver, but they sat like this for years.
Eventually the Mint sold all of the nicer Uncirculated sets, and as orders kept coming in they reopened some of those barrels and resumed packaging three-coin Uncirculated sets. These new sets did not have a white stripe on the plastic sheeting like the earlier sets. Sales picked up during the Hunt Brothers fandango of 1979-1980, and eventually they raised the price. Sales continued until 1982, when the George Washington Commemorative half dollar came out and they finally melted the remainders of the Bicentennial silver coins.
This could possibly explain different finishes.
TD
I'm surprised that they didn't do 90% silver in 1976.
@CaptHenway thank you for the detailed information! I had no idea that there were different versions of those sets.
Why? They did 40% Silver halves 1965-1970 and 40% Silver Dollars 1971-1974. That was normal for then.
And you must remember that the Treasury did not want to do anything for the Bicentennial, so they weren’t going to go out of their way for collectors.
In that era 40% clad was the standard silver composition. It was used starting in 1965 and through 1970 for half dollars, and then in 1971 onward for collector versions for the Ike dollars. It was a natural choice for the collector versions of the Bicentennial commems.
In 1982 with the supposed return of commemorative half dollars we saw a return to 90%. (I say "supposed return" because the commemorative coin programs quickly expanded into other denominations.)
After all they stopped 40% for circulation after 1970 and it was unlikely silver would circulate ever again. Even the 40% silver Ikes were intended for collectors and not to circulate.
Yes, that's all true, but the Ike dollar legislation was passed in 1970 when 40% JFKs were still being minted. It was a continuum, moving forward with the inertia of existing infrastructure and production lines. The choice to use 40% silver clad for the Bicentennial collector coins would have been a natural one.
Super information - thank you.
I would love to provide meaningful photos but the subtlety of the difference in texture would almost certainly be lost with iPhone pics (my camera set up is away in storage).
On the web: http://www.earlyus.com
There are no 40% bicentennial intended for circulation???
How many is a 'small hoard'?
The mint never had any plan to put those 40% silver quarters into circulation. They melted for more than their face value. The post by @CaptHenway was most enlighting.
I did not realize that the mint continued to offer the Uncirculated sets after the Becentennial. The sets in the red envelopes seemed like a drug on the market to me. They were around for years and mostly seemed to go begging.