Washington quarters becoming more scarce?

Im sure most know more than I do on this topic, but are Washington quarters (1998 and older) becoming less and less prevalent in today's market? I notice that only about 1 in 5 quarters I receive in every day change has the reverse of the eagle. How does this work? For every new dollar thats minted, does one have to be destroyed to maintain balance? And if thats the case, with all of the state, territory, and America the Beautiful coins being produced, are older (60s, 70s, 80s and 90s) quarters becoming more rare? I understand that in most years hundreds of billions were produced. But, if one has to disappear for a new one to appear, then that changes everything. Right? Or is there an unlimited number of quarters that can exist at any given time? For example, in 1973, 215 million quarters were minted. But, how often do you get one of those in change at speedway versus a new one? And this goes for all denominations. The older ones are handed out less and less. This may be a very ignorant question, but I ask it with all sincerity. So please take it easy on this new guy.

 

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I think that is a very good point, and my view is that some of them are getting pulled out of my circulation as time goes on from us. Think about this too, as time goes on coins disappear out of circ. Last time I knew a coin circulation life was 30-40 years. Look at any late '60s quarters you find they are becoming harder to find especially the 65. Just my thoughts on it too.

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No retirement

Just normal losses combined with large current mintages.

Play the game, say there are 100 quarters in existence and you lose 5 and mint 10 each Year. How long before the 1st year's are gone?

 

Probably not being taken out of circulation, just drastically diluted by insanely high mintages of recent dates.

 

They're out there. @cladking has them all......

 

It was estimated that the introduction of the State Quarters program drew 10 million new collectors into the hobby. Some of those new collectors also started building sets of the older quarters by searching rolls. It becomes only a matter of time that the circulating populations should begin to disappear.

Chris

 

Exactly.

And as @green18 said, I've got em all.

 

Right now about 57% of circulating quarters are states or parks issues. This might begin dropping rapidly if the government ever starts removing cull and heavily worn coin. They have actually begun cleaning up some of the worst coins in circulation but there are still large numbers of clinkers.

An improving economy would also go a long way to dropping this percentage since new coins dilute the number circulating.

In time the general public will actually start hording these coins and the only ones left will be common dates, low grades, and culls.

 

i thought the estimate was more like 120-130 million Americans were collecting them. The large majority of these people stuck with just this type of quarter, but it was a rather successful release

 

In many years, you might see something like you do with Liberty Head nickels. The 1883 no cents variety isnt worth much in unc in comparison to the other years. People set aside too many for them to be rare today, as condition rarities. The 1883 with cents variety is worth a lot more, even though the mintage was around 15 million i think.

 

I don't know where you got those numbers, but all of the numismatic publications were reporting 10 million in 2000-2001. If you were around at the beginning of the SQ program, you should know that the 1999 Silver Proof Set shot up to $375 because many of the new collectors missed out on it. The price finally started dropping within a couple of years. If there were 120-130 million new collectors as you suggest, then the price for that set would still be sky high. Think about it.

Chris

 

There are a lot of factors that contribute to quarters being lost and needing to be replaced in circulation. This refers to what is known as attrition. I forget the official figure but millions of quarters are lost from circulation every year. This stems from regular wear and tear, environmental damage, being thrown away (literally often by mistake-- such as, for example, by being folded into a receipt at a mini mart and being thrown away as the customer leaves the door) to them leaving the country in the pockets of international travelers, etc.

In terms of finding pre-1999 quarters, keep in mind the government saturated the economy by minting billions of state quarters a year in anticipation of collector demand. In 2000, for example, some six billion state quarters were minted. Contrast this with 1.8 billion quarters in 1996 and 1.2 billion minted in 1997. Mintages of state quarters were reduced in subsequent years to bring balance to actual demand but the permanent displacement and dilution of pre-1999 quarters was set.

 

I see quarters in my change less and less because I always use a debit or credit card - as does an increasing share of the population.

 

The best way to get a feel for attrition might be to look at the mintages in the second years of recessions. This number should be a fair reflection of attrition. Most of any date mintage reflects increased demand from the economy. Of course in recent times this isn't truly so much increasing demand by commerce but rather the wealth effect and people working resulting in increases in the aggregate numbers in sock drawers and change jars.

Quarters are lost and destroyed in a multitude of ways but it's somewhat different than smaller denominations because they are larger, more valuable, and sturdier. Many are lost in fires and floods but there are many destroyed in recycled cars and through various misadventure.

Now days there are a few people collecting these coins from circulation which also increases the apparent attrition. I'd guess true attrition is in the 75 million neighborhood and collectors are nabbing another 50 million. Both of these numbers would increase in a stronger economy.

 

I still see many of them in change today. Maybe locally someone happens to be hoarding them? I even live in a relatively small town and there is a running 50-60% chance I see a quarter older than 1998 in my pocket day to day. I still see 1960's and 1970's.

 

You might want to check some rolls at the bank. I believe you'll probably find the incidence of states and later between about 53% and 59% dependent of the economic health of your particular region. There might be outlyers but most if not all should fall in this range with active areas toward the high end and less active ones toward the low end. Of course if youjust check a couple hundred coins then there is some influence of "coincidence".

I have this theory that cashiers tend to give newer coins to some types of individuals and older coins to others. I tend to get about 80% new quarters so maybe they tend to give the new ones to older people. In any case I'm not sure WYSIWYG(ot).

 

Thanks for all the helpful responses. I understand a little better now why I'm seeing less and less of these. It makes a lot of sense. @cladking do you think it's worth hanging onto these? Will I ever see a rise in value in my lifetime in your opinion? Or is this something that will have to wait on my great great grand kids (I'm 34 now) to have any premium added to the face value?

 

No. Don't hang onto average coins. They made billions and average coins will be getting saved by many many people. Even if no one saves them there will be enough survivors from escaping the melts that typical coins will "never" be worth having. You'll lose money on the ones you save due to inflation. Even the nice Uncs I saved could have bought a loaf of bread back in 1975 but now bread costs five of them.

However there are lots of great coins in circulation and I do set these aside. Varieties, better dates, and higher grades are often worth saving. The best bet for most people is to buy a few of the cheap Whitman folders and make a collection of the best coins they can find. If you do this just to have fun you can't lose because it's a ton of fun and you'll learn how to spot the really special coins. You might even make a nice profit on the special coins.

 

I've been seeing tons of Harper's Ferry qtrs. Still waiting to find my first Roosevelt park qtr. Anyone find one yet? Have they been released?

 

I got one in change Friday. Beautiful coin with lots of detail.