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Not a biggie,..... but I keep finding early clad quarters in change that are high grade.

SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,997 ✭✭✭✭✭
Today I found a 1977D in AU and a 1982D in EF-AU. Both coins are struck up very well and have lots of eye appeal. The 1982D has developed some "crust" that gives it a very nice look, comparable to an original, crusty Capped Bust Half. Both are keeper.

The week before I found a 1978D quarter that is UNC and very nice.

A guess people are going through change bottles and drawers to get some spending cash, resulting in older coins that have been sitting around for years making it back into circulation.

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    DieClashDieClash Posts: 3,688 ✭✭✭
    I think your assessment as to people emptying coin jars is probably correct. I've received BU quality '65 & '68-D nickels in change this year and just this past week, I got a 1919-S, 1950-D and 1952-S Wheat cent.
    "Please help us keep these boards professional and informative…. And fun." - DW
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    I noticed this as well I received two Bicentennial quarters in change at two different place last week that were in excellent condition and I haven't seen these in a while.
    Greg Bose
    CoinSpace.com Founder
    www.coinspace.com
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    rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    SanctionII, I believe your assumption is correct. Cheers, RickO
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    zap1111zap1111 Posts: 1,298 ✭✭
    An unfortunate economic climate for many, true, but it's making looking through pocket change a little more interesting again.
    zap
    zap1111
    102 capped bust half dollars - 100 die marriages
    BHNC #198
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    SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,997 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It is an opportunity for collectors who do not mind "collecting from pocket change" to look with a sharp eye for "keepers" and pull them out of circulating coinage and set them aside for their personal enjoyment and for the enjoyment of future generations of collectors.

    Pocket change may be "modern cr*p", but it still gives me a little joy when you find a "keeper", even if it is only worth face value.
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    MowgliMowgli Posts: 1,219
    Just curious - how does one find an uncirculated coin in circulation?
    In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
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    SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,997 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mowgli.

    Good question.

    I guess it depends on your definition of "uncirculated".

    On one end of the spectrum is a definition that is so strict [i.e. any coin ejected from the striking chamber is uncirculated until it makes physical contact with any matter (say another coin in the bin into which minted coins are placed after being ejected from the striking chamber) other than the air, after which it is circulated]. This strict definition would mean that if you, wearing surgical gloves, caught a coin as it was ejected from the striking chamber, the instant it touched your gloved hand (even if you caught it by the edges), it would cease being uncirculated and would become circulated.

    On the other end of the spectrum would be a definition that would allow a coin to pass from one place to another and still be considered uncirculated as long as there was no "wear" on the coin. So if a coin ejected from the striking chamber was caught by you and passed from you to me, to Joe, to Mary, to Bill, to Jane, to Donna, to Jose to Aman, to Rick and them back to me, each possessor of the coin having possession of same for 24 hours (during which it was in one's pocket, etc.) came back into my possession without having any "wear" taking place, the coin would be "uncirculated".

    What is your definition of uncirculated?

    For the 1978D quarter I mentioned in the OP, I have no idea whether it is truly UNC, but under a loupe it sure looks that way.
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    TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 45,035 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Every economic downturn offers tremendous opportunity for the eagle eyes.

    my 2¢
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    SkyManSkyMan Posts: 9,592 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Coins? What ARE those? 99+% of my purchases are with credit cards. Get the float on the money and whatever freebie (in my case frequent flier miles) comes with it.

    Didn't you know that coins are obsolete??? image
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    MsMorrisineMsMorrisine Posts: 39,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I may have to get some quarter boxes now.

    Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions
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    cladkingcladking Posts: 29,975 ✭✭✭✭✭
    There are lots of uncirculated coins in circulation but exceedingly few are '78-D quarters.

    "Uncirculated simply means that the luster on the high spots hasn't been worn off yet.
    For clad quarters this takes an average of six transactions now days. It used to be few-
    er but not as many men carry change rattling around in their pockets any longer.

    I disagree that the high grade quarters being seen is the result of people emptying
    their change jars. Change jars simply don't have enough old high grade quarters even
    in aggregate to have any affect onthe incidence of these in circulation.

    We should think of circulation as a "random walk" where coins can travel any distance
    in "any" direction each time they are used (transact). This averages about 10 miles but
    is, of course, tending to be directed toward centers of commerce.

    The way a specific date/ mint mark wears out is a sort of random walk as well inasmuch
    as each coin is equally likely to go into a change jar or other form of storage each time
    it changes hands (transacts) but only providing it circulates freely. Circulating freely sim-
    ply means that each coin has the same probability of behaving like every other one of
    that date/ mm. Silver, for instance, can not circulate freely because nearly a quarter of
    anyone who recieves this coin will set it aside. There is no silver in circulation just as
    surely as there has been no 1909-S VDB cents in circulation for more than half a cen-
    tury.

    Almost all clad quarters circulate freely except the bicentennial issues and to a lesser
    extent the 1965. The latest quarters also are not circulating freely and hardly circu-
    lating at all.

    Since each date circulates freely this causes the wear to be evenly applied to each
    quarter of a specific date/ mm. But since some coins by mere chance spend more or
    less time in storage it manifests as the grade distribution forming a bell curve. Normally
    every single coin lies along this curve but there are a few that have gone through
    rock tumblers or come out of mint sets. The probability of an Unc '78-D dropped to
    zero around 1987 and AU's have dropped to zero around 2005. Obviously though
    a specific unc doesn't know it can't exist and can find its way into circulation. You
    will find it virtually impossible to find another. While no uncs were set aside by col-

    There has been some collector interest in all the high grade eagle reverse quarters
    since 1998. For twelve years these have been selectively removed. It was quite
    apparent as it was occuring. While no unc '78-D's were set aside by collectors since
    1998 because they were already gone a few million AU's were set aside. It's coins
    like this that are flooding back into circulation. I've seen literally hundreds of these
    high grade coins around in the last couple years and not one is a coin that couldn't
    be found in change in 1998.

    Curiously though I just got a VF+ '69 yesterday. This is almost as surprising as
    an unc '78-D. In one way it's more surprising since it couldn't be from a freshly
    opened mint set. These were pretty much gone in 1998 so it's a fluke too. Maybe
    it was recently released from a very old hoard around '98 and then found immed-
    iately and set aside.

    There are a lot great coins out there right now. A lot of these are also varieties
    that might have sat in collections even longer than twelve years.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
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    SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,997 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Skyman.

    Your lack of use of money just proves that you are a young buck, born too late (1958) to fully and completely understand the compelling need for us older folks (I was born in 1956) to have and use REAL MONEY instead of them new fangled things which are nothing more than electronic impulses showing numbers on a LCDimage

    SanctionII
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    SanctionIISanctionII Posts: 12,997 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Cladking.

    The depth and breadth of your posts on Clad coinage and the realities of how coinage actually moves from one place to another, every day, week, month, year and decade is amazing. I could not imagine coming up with the information you come up with on the subject matter.

    You still should write a book on Clads since you,....................................are the CladKingimage
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    DMWJRDMWJR Posts: 6,096 ✭✭✭✭✭
    My wife got home from Wally World one night this past week and said, "you will want to see what I got back in change tonight." She handed me a nice red unc 1938-s wheat cent. I think someone got into their parent's/grandparent's coins ...
    Doug
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    dbldie55dbldie55 Posts: 7,750 ✭✭✭✭✭
    We were promised change, and this is it. (I am seeing as many eagle reverse quarters in change as state quarters)
    Collector and Researcher of Liberty Head Nickels. ANA LM-6053
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    DieClashDieClash Posts: 3,688 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Cladking.

    The depth and breadth of your posts on Clad coinage and the realities of how coinage actually moves from one place to another, every day, week, month, year and decade is amazing. I could not imagine coming up with the information you come up with on the subject matter.

    You still should write a book on Clads since you,....................................are the CladKingimage >>



    image

    Sam's posts are always interesting and very informative when it comes to our clad coinage. Keep up the good work!

    image
    "Please help us keep these boards professional and informative…. And fun." - DW
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    BONGO HURTLES ALONG THE RAIN SODDEN HIGHWAY OF LIFE ON UNDERINFLATED BALD RETREAD TIRES
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    GritsManGritsMan Posts: 2,599 ✭✭✭
    Love posts like these.

    I, too, find some really nice quarters these days. What's interesting to me--and maybe obvious to CladKing--is that the old quarters I am most likely to find in good shape are precisely those with the most widespread collector interest. Bicentennial quarters and 1982s & 1983s top the list of those I am most likely to find in higher grades. And although I've assembled a complete 1965-1998 set from circulation in the past few months, many are in pretty rotten shape--waiting for upgrades!
    Winner of the Coveted Devil Award June 8th, 2010
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    MowgliMowgli Posts: 1,219


    << <i>Cladking.

    The depth and breadth of your posts on Clad coinage and the realities of how coinage actually moves from one place to another, every day, week, month, year and decade is amazing. I could not imagine coming up with the information you come up with on the subject matter.

    You still should write a book on Clads since you,....................................are the CladKingimage >>



    image
    In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
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    MowgliMowgli Posts: 1,219


    << <i>Mowgli.

    Good question.

    I guess it depends on your definition of "uncirculated".

    For the 1978D quarter I mentioned in the OP, I have no idea whether it is truly UNC, but under a loupe it sure looks that way. >>



    I think Cladking's description is accurate. For me personally, I only think of modern coinage as uncirculated if it comes out of a mint set. I collected Memorials, Jeffersons, clad Roosies and clad Washingtons all by hand picking mint sets and then breaking the coins out into my Danscos.

    I suspect that the UNC silver coins I have fit Cladking's definition since I have no clue whether they were plucked from mint sets or not; but I suspect not. Hence, maybe it is as he says - if there is no wear and unbroken luster then it is UNC because it looks UNC.
    In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
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    cladkingcladking Posts: 29,975 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks guys.

    I watched the clad coinage from the beginning. Initially it was with grave consternation and then
    with a complete sense of boredom but growing interest. Now each and every one of these seems
    to have a million stories to tell and I never tire of straining to hear them.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
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    jdimmickjdimmick Posts: 9,944 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thats becuase I am cuttin mint sets up by the hundreds spending them into circ, they dont sell , and if you whole sale them to other dealers, the discount takes them literally under face value, so I just spend em.

    also, every day in the store I am buying complete sets of nickels, dimes, quarters , halves etc, breaking them apart and spending the clad. Just not enough demand locally to absorb all the BU clad crap. And some of these coins are nice! Not too mention proofs as well, if they are the slightest bit hazy , spots, they get spent as well.

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    DoubleEagle59DoubleEagle59 Posts: 8,431 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Economic conditions aren't any different here in Canada.

    I too have noticed a few 'older' higher grade coins in circulation.
    "Gold is money, and nothing else" (JP Morgan, 1912)

    "“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)

    "I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
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    cladkingcladking Posts: 29,975 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Thats becuase I am cuttin mint sets up by the hundreds spending them into circ, they dont sell , and if you whole sale them to other dealers, the discount takes them literally under face value, so I just spend em.

    also, every day in the store I am buying complete sets of nickels, dimes, quarters , halves etc, breaking them apart and spending the clad. Just not enough demand locally to absorb all the BU clad crap. And some of these coins are nice! Not too mention proofs as well, if they are the slightest bit hazy , spots, they get spent as well. >>



    This has been going on for decades.

    Now there are millions who need to raise cash and the market is a little bit flooded
    with most dates because demand is still almost nonexistent because the coins are
    considered crap.

    People have no idea how few of some of these sets survive.
    tempus fugit extra philosophiam.
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    GritsManGritsMan Posts: 2,599 ✭✭✭
    Hey thanks for the link, CK. Fascinating thread that, too.
    Winner of the Coveted Devil Award June 8th, 2010
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    IconbusterIconbuster Posts: 148 ✭✭
    I've done my part to contribute to these clad circulation finds. I was trying to cut back on my collection clutter a few months ago so I removed the coins from my 1977 and 1978 mint sets and took them to the bank mixed with other coins from my loose change jar. The Ike dollars caught the interest of the teller as she had not handled any in a very long time. image
    - Bob

    Successful BST transactions with: Tdec1000(2x), SeaEagleCoins, sweetwilliet, piecesofme, MICHAELDIXON, lkeigwin, Gerard, THEGENERAL, ponderit, pursuitofliberty, AnkurJ, kryptonitecomics
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    InYHWHWeTrustInYHWHWeTrust Posts: 1,451 ✭✭✭
    Great thread. While waiting for midgrade Barber halves to show up, I had been working 4+ years on a VF-XF Washington quarter set, from circulation/change, not from rolls. I would put the scans up but the coins look horrible, may try to image when feeling better. I've been trying to find them problem free and decent looking (for clad) and is quite a challenge. I had a few from when I was a kid, stashed in old Blue Whitman (65-67) iirc. Try to find a 69d or 71p! Not as easy as it sounds... Took me forever and still looking for 'better' examples.

    Don



    Thread on VF-XF Washington quarters, for the challenge, on small budgets
    Do your best to avoid circular arguments, as it will help you reason better, because better reasoning is often a result of avoiding circular arguments.
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    jessewvujessewvu Posts: 5,079 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Weird. I fit a 1965 proof (looked like a proof) quarter in change from a vending machine this past week, very nice looking.
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    AnkurJAnkurJ Posts: 11,375 ✭✭✭✭
    I had a few rolls for uncirculated bicentennial quarters. I kept a few and cashed in the rest.
    All coins kept in bank vaults.
    PCGS Registries
    Box of 20
    SeaEagleCoins: 11/14/54-4/5/12. Miss you Larry!

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