Silver 1965 quarter???

Hi guys, new here, toll collector in MA... While collecting tolls I came across a very pretty and interesting 1965 quarter.

It looks silver all the way through, the sides are not copper looking like all my other quarters I get daily. It has a very bright almost blinding shine, looks as if it has never seen the light of day before being used at my toll plaza. No scratches, dings, or any marks of use except a couple light hairs on the face side. When I saw it I really did shield my eyes! I dropped it into the change drawer and it made a very different sound which is what made me inspect it further.

I tried looking it up but found that 1965 silver quarters should not exist? So is this real? It looks almost as if it was just made, but prettier and shinier than all the other mint looking coins I've seen. Much brighter and lighter shine.

 

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It might be plated in silver or some other shiny white metal.
A silver quarter would be ~6.25g. A standard 75/25 quarter is 5.67g. You might want to check a gram scale...

 

If I could put a curse on Coin Vault, I would!

Chris

 

Actually silver 1965 quarters do in fact exist because the mint was striking 1964 dated quarters into early 1966 to use up the silver they had on hand. 1965 dated coins were not minted until September of 1965 and were minted into 1966 when they finally switched over dates. The silver examples of the 1965 were blanks intended for the 1964 dated coins that got stuck in hoppers etc and came out later with the clad banks and were struck up as 1965 coins. Genuine coins are quite scarce.

But as NK notes, the nefarious have been plating clad coins and trying to pass them off as silver so the weight check is necessary.

 

Thank God for the IGNORE feature. It seems to always save me from the lame version of Comedy Central.

 

I used to wonder why a silver coin weighed more than a modern copper/nickel coin. I always thought copper and nickel weighed more than silver. I just checked and found out I was wrong. Learn something new every day.

 

What's also interesting to note is that a War Nickel weighs exactly the same as a regular nickel.

 

That is because while silver weighs more than the copper, the Manganese weighs less and by tweaking the silver/manganese ratio you can adjust them to match that of copper or nickel so the coin has the same weight or density. In the case of the war nickel they matched the weight, the density is slightly off.

 

Sounds like a chrome or zinc plated coin. The weight would tell us more as would some pictures. Please give us more information and tell us what you discover.

 

Yes, I knew that. I was just pointing this out as a lot of people assume that a War Nickel weighs more than a normal one.

 

This is not particularly a slam at the OP - he only posted this morning. I've never understood the reticence to get a simple weight to determine if you possibly own a $5,000 coin.

 

It seems that you know everything. Am I to assume that the only reason you joined here is because you like the "Ignore" feature?

Chris

 

Once you have determined the weight, and it if turns out to be 6.25g, the last way to tell is with a specific gravity test. While not harmful to the coin, it is time consuming.

Or you can just submit it to a grader.

 

It looks like we have a troll on this thread. If you can't stay on topic, then leave!!!

 

Topic? I thought we were talking about a Quarter not a Nickel.

 

That was started by pennsteve, and that did relate to the topic.

 

Don't forget the platinum plated quarters hawked by HSN.

 

My condolences to all you guys at the toll booths. I now have to go to Wal-mart to pick up an Easy Pass because they are putting you all out of a job.

 

Have to be safe, indeed. A lot of people don't know about the history of the coins from this era. It's always nice to see it brought back.

 

Same here. They put so much garbage out there.