Does anyone have a picture of one of the earlier date quarters with a type D reverse ('77-'79 maybe). I have no problem IDing the later ones based on Cladking's descriptions, but understand that its easier with the later dates. Also, if anyone has any other diagnostics besides the position of the "N" in the motto, I'd love to get them. I am afraid that I will mistake a weak strike for a type D. FWIW, I have found that getting uncirculated type d quarters from '80 and earlier is much harder than getting the type B reverses from '56 to '64.
The relief is a little lower on the type "d". The second best PUP is the shape of the cross bar on the "Q" of "QUARTER". These are much more subtle differences on the '77 and '78 and I didn't spot them until I saw the '79. Once you see one of these they stand out but all the differences are quite subtle except the depth of relief. I believe these are important coins (even the '77 and '78) but it's possible that they are mere hubbing varieties or something that will never be popular. I've tried researching their origin and have made no progress at all. For a while I toyed with the idea they were made at West Point but the facts don't seem to fit that hypothesis and don't account for the Denver mint issues. There are some similarities to proofs so there might be processes involved related to proof die manufacture. An inordinate percentage of the type "d's are PL (usually reverse only). Truth to tell it sometimes seemed in those days that the mint was playing around with all this stuff just to see if anyone would ever notice. As soon as they settled on a single reverse in 1985 they started using two different obverses with a much larger difference and higher mintage. It's a little surprising that none of these oddballs appear in mint sets except the '81-P type "d" since the number of dies involved was pretty substantial. It's odd that each year the differences became greater and the mintages increased. It almost seems intentional. All of these coins 3except the '81-P will be very tough in Unc or even the higher circulated grades except, ironically, the '82 and '83 issues. I don't believe either the '77 or '78-D will exist in Unc. There probably won't be more than a couple dozen of the '85-P sm bust in Unc (I've got one). Even in XF this coin will be extremely elusive because of the low rims on the date.
I've not been lucky enough to hit on the '77s or '78s, but I think I have most of the later ones at least in circulated condition. The four below are the earliest ones I've found. See if you concur. They are '79, '79D (top two), '80, and '80D (bottom two). BTW, mere hubbing varieties are what I live for. I'm fascinated by the possibility that one might ID die marriages based on channeling/re-touching.
Yes, those are all type "d's. The '79 is the toughest of these dates after '78 and account for about 5% of mintage, the '80 is around 12% and the '82 and '83's are quite common (~25%)(there is no '82-P). The '77 is quite scarce and I'd estimate the mintage in the 150,000 range with the Denver at triple that. The '78 is "common" with about a million made and the '78-D a little lower. The '77 and '78 are really tough and Uncs are scarce to non-existent. In those days people just didn't save rolls of coins and these don't appear in mint sets. There were an IN and a PA dealers who supplied these markets but I've sampled everything they sold and no type "d's. I've found only three of the 77-P's. One's a low end AU, one's VF, and the last one I found about eight years ago is a cull VG. The '79-P was released largely in the Chicago and NW Ind region. I could have set aside rolls and bags of them but they were so common I didn't bother. I barely managed to save a couple nice ones for my collection before I realized what was happening.
The early clad type "b's and the later type "d's are far far scarcer than the old silver type "b's especially in high grade. The clad can be exceedinly common in poor grade because mintages are staggering but most all of them are still circulating and will probably be even worse before people start looking at the clads. Many of them will be melted after being withdrawn someday. I think some of these coins will be very valuable because there will be a little demand. Things like a '72-D type "b" in grades over VF (even F) are going to be scarce and nothing can change that. The only real question is how many will be found in poor condition as opposed to G and VG. Probably only about 45,000 of these survive and most are in circulation. Few are over VG and a third of them are culls.
I looked through over forty $500 dollar boxes of quarters ( I have a very patient bank) and never found one of the later clad type b's on a circulating coin.
These are all fairly low mintage. They weren't so hard to find in circulation back in 1973 because they comprised a fairly significant percentage of the coins in circulation (~.25%). The problem is that half of them are gone now and the ones left are mixed in with huge numbers of later issues. You needed to look at about 4000 '72-D quarters to find a type "b" and there were so many of these in circulation that it was just a matter of time before you found one. Now you have to look through nearly 200 quarters just to find a '72-D. If you do find it, it will only be VG instead of AU. Keep looking since all these coins are still out there. Circulating quarters are barely picked over at all so if you don't find one you'll probably find something else.
Speaking of type b clad proofs (shouldn't that actually be RDV-008), I have '68 004, 007, and 008. In my experience 007 is the most common among the '68s, followed by 008. Actually, I should say that I have what I believe is an 004 but have always questioned whether it might be a heavily polished 005 (i.e., polished away the incuse along the (our) right wing). Aside from the incuse, any other sure-fire markers to differentiate 004 from 005 on a proof? While we're on the subject, does anyone have any insights into the '69 Philadelphias. Some sources say that 007 is common, but I have never found anything other than 006's.
