1999 Quarter Dollar in Silver
YQQ
Posts: 3,432 ✭✭✭✭✭
AI says these were struck in 90% silver for collectors only in SanFrancisco, mintmark S
However, this one has MM P and is according to the XRF 97.5% AG and 2.5% CU
Can anyone help to explain this?
As you see in the images, the coin is not exactly a show coin. But it is different than the regular issue.
Maybe part of a test set up?
OR are there any forgeries known?
Would it be worth for someone to fake one coin?
Thank you for your input
H
+
+
Today is the first day of the rest of my life
1
Comments
Im wondering if it might be a plating job?
The subject coin is smaller and lighter than the specs at https://en.numista.com/13566 and the reading well above 90% Ag is highly suspect.
I'm thinking plated, possibly a plated counterfeit. Plus, it's ugly.
Based on the title, I assumed that it was plated. Lots of these were plated.
It's ugly enough that a counterfeit isn't out of the question.
My guess is that it's not counterfeit, just ugly (and plated).
counterfeit and not silver
Looks acid reduced then plated, not sure why anyone would go to all that trouble.
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
This is a duplicate/spam thread by @YQQ
This question was already asked and answered on another thread:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1102873/i-know-these-are-2-1999p-quarter-dollars-but-they-are-different-in-a-way-see-below-for-xrf
Round and round we go, where it ends will never know...
op - what do you think it is
you're putting it up twice. you must not be happy with the first set of answers
I thought it looked familiar. 🧐
Right, There were definitely NO qualifying answers the first time around. Just guesses
I posted this new post purposely.
Wondering why I did it?
Nobody really answered any of my concerns the first time.
The coin is surely not silver plated. IF others of it were plated some time ago, and mine would be one of the plated coins, the weight would for sure tell. So would the XRF machine.
That very same machine does show when an item is plated. (like knifes and forks or spoons) You all know that!
IT shows 97.5% silver and 2.5% CU
AND, where are the others that were plated? still in the wild? and what about the dimensions? Oh acid???? Not a chance unless acid is NOT selctive when removing or (eating) silver.
It is interesting that many you sometimes say that an XRF test would often be the ultimatel proof.
IkesT: I do not spam anyone or anything. Just for you to know.
For all to know: if I were not seriously interested to find out what this coin is all about, I would not have reposted the issue. This is at this time my one and ONLY US coin.
I thought for a long time after the first post and after digesting all your comments, that it could possibly be a fake.
But lack of proof and common sense ruled that out. where are all the others? a Unicate?? Not.
IMO way too many factors speak for it being real and against it being a forgery.
Why would it be?? None of you has answered that??? for monetary gain?? you must be kidding, NOT!
Maube I am totally wrong?
Also please remember that once a suggestion of an item possible being a fake is "hanging", planted over an item, be it yours or mine or anyone elses. It is an easy way out just to write something. Hoever, IT is planted in your mind and stays as part of the item when others read it.
"Its a FAKE" is engraved in peoples mind (so and so said and so and so confirmed, so it must be so) and jumps right in a persons mind.....and, unfortunately that bias is set! It stays there until proven otherwise. Fact!
Simply because one does not have another suggestion or some reasonable proof of it being fake, or does not know another possibility or cause of the issue, one should not suggest that it is a fake, simply as a comment made, or just to add another point to the running account (it all happens daily and way tooooo often and without making sense, right here on the forum)
Please also note that I have NOT made any claim about the coin, except the coins physical properties as I know it.
All I am guilty of is asking similar questions twice and hoping to get seriously qualified answers that will help me to decide what to do with this "thing" or metal piece OR coin.
And please note this: although I think I do OK with writing in English. But there are times when my grammar is lacking confidence and sentences can come out the wrong way and sometime might be confusing. So please forgive me. Thank you
H
If you were seriously interested in finding out what this coin is all about, you wouldn't ask random people on the internet even once, let alone twice.
Send it to our host and pay their authentication fees, and you'll have your answer. I predict you won't be any happier about the answer, though.
Nice rant. Proves you aren't looking for opinions or information. You've made up your mind. I'm just going to save my time.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
it's not a silver quarter. you're looking at a plated damaged quarter, or a plated counterfeit. either way it is not what you think it is.
i'll suggest you do a specific gravity test.
Proof silver quarters in 1999 were 90% silver. Yours is not that fineness.
Proof silver quarters were struck in San Francisco, but your quarter shows a P mintmark.
Your quarters looks distorted and has irregular details, some of which might be attributable to PMD.
So....the evidence is against it being a silver quarter. It is possibly a plated damaged real quarter, or (my suspicion) a counterfeit (silver, or silver plated).
It is not up to us or anyone to prove who did it or why. And the absence of other known examples proves nothing.
If you think it is a genuine error then it is up to you to prove how it occurred, and explain the animolies.
BTW, in your first thread about this coin you showed a view of the edge that seems to show evidence of a seam, which supports it being a cast counterfeit. For some reason you chose not to show that photo here.
Whatever it is, it absolutely didn’t come out of the US mint like that –
it’s either badly damaged or counterfeit.
back then the only silver coins made were 90%
it is not 90% and is a counterfeit
Please post the results after you send it in to a Professional Coin Grading Service.
I hope you get the "qualified answers" that you're looking for.
Let’s zip up this case, YQQ.
Seems to me, unless one can demonstrate that the US Mint was using a composition of 97.5% Ag /2.5% Cu for test strikes (or something else) at that time, one would have to conclude the item in the OP is counterfeit.
I use an XRF on a daily basis. It is not reliable for telling plate. It has almost no penetration whatsoever. It strictly reads the surface of the coin. That coin is certainly silver plated. I have tested innumerable plated coins and plated silverware in both the course of normal buying, and to humor customers. Those readings are consistent with a heavy silver plate. It was plated aftermarket. If you are desiring a definitive answer, that would be it.
“Land of the free because of the brave”
“Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone”
In Deo solo confidimus
Member since 2026
Successful BST transactions with: Ted 1, JWP, bigjpst, Vetter, nickelsciolist,