Another Quarter

Hello all,

I am back with more of them dang quarter questions. Quick backstory. My dad was a clock maker who collected coins here and there. He passed in 2017 and I had to take care of all the great or not so great things he left behind.

One item he left was the 50 state quarter collection. Came with a small chest and $3.25 in quarters of each state uncirculated. 1 quarter in a round flat holder and then 12 in a package that has a sticker that says uncirculated.

First question is: I assume I can (I know I can do whatever I want) open the pkg of .25¢, but will that affect the value of them? I assume not cause you don't know what value you have until you can see them.

And secondly, the quarter itself, the one in the image. That don't look like a normal state quarter. I did read where they did the first five state quarters in this type of alloy/metal/ clad or whatever its called. But Virginia is not one of the first five states. Can anyone shed some light on this particular one???????????

As always thanks in advance. I appreciate all the info you guys/gals give and have given to me in the past few months. Have a good day. And as my dad would say: "Happy Motoring:.

 

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It looks normal to me. It is clearly not a proof and is uncirculated. The yellow tint/tone I see from your pic may just be your light source. Even a pic of the edge/reeding is not definitive towards determining if it is silver, unless you can see a copper core, but weighing it might.

So tell me…why do you think it is not normal?

 

The Virginia quarter has toned. Yellow or golden is one of the first colors in the toning progression.
Here is a progression of tones on coins. It does reflect silver dollars but I am not sure if it is the same for all metals.

 

There are a lot of gold-plated state quarters out there. If that Virginia quarter really looks like gold, it's probably one of them.

 

I think Jeff's on to something. They sold a lot of these in gold plate.

 

If all the coins are in their original packages I’d leave them as is. Any Quarters that are golden in color are probably toned.

 

Thanks for all the reply. I have a few pictures below this to show weight and compare to another quarter that is in the set of state quarters.

 

Gold plate

 

Didn't they spray these? And if so was there evidence of no plating on the third side?

 

So if I was to sell the whole set I wouldn't truly know what I was selling. So I could be screwing myself, or a potential buyer. Would they be worth more if they stayed sealed or if I opened them and found multiple error coins??????

 

They should have been spayed but I know not of the third side..

 

Yes, definitely plated.

 

You're not gona get rich on these.

 

3rd side???? Im assuming you are talking about the edge. It looks the same color all the way around it. I tried getting a photo of the two quarters standing up next to each other, but my lighting is not the best now that its dark outside. I will try and remember to get one in the morning and post it.

 

Not trying to get rich, just thinking of different scenarios. I plan to hold on to them and then pass them on to my twelve year daughter when she gets older. Hopefully by the time she's getting up there in years, maybe some of them will fetch a few dollars.....

 

Being plated as such, they are considered damaged to most collectors. As a novelty, they're just fine..

 

Here’s the backstory. I remember it like it was yesterday…. When the state quarter series came out there was a whole new renaissance in coin collecting. Mike Mezack saw the opportunity and had infomercials on the tube every night…. Send me ten bucks a month and you are assured to be the first to get an uncirculated and a gold plated quarter when released…. Now mind you, Mezack was plating the quarters. He got ten bucks and you got a quarter with two cents of gold plating. He was the first great mass media coin capitalist. And buddy he sold a pile of them

Now with all that said, sadly a coin collector will view the gold plated quarters as damaged. Yes they are pretty but they are damaged goods. You may find some interest from a curio perspective, but they are vastly more valuable as a family keepsake given that they come from your dad.

 

It's possible, but by that time, a few dollars may be the equivalent of a few cents today.

I would tend to agree with those who say "keep them as a remembrance of your father" -- except that I'm going through my own father's estate right now, and there are an awful lot of remembrances, far more than we have room to keep. This particular keepsake is pretty heavy and bulky for a memory, in my opinion.

If you want to pass something on to your daughter that will be worth a few bucks when she gets up in years, take this $150-odd and use it to buy a mutual fund in a Roth retirement fund in her name. THAT will perform a lot better than any of these coins.

 

I dump a lot of hate on the "gold plating to create an instant 'collectible'" scammers and the garbage they create.

Why? Because their target audience was non-collectors duped into believing they were building a valuable collection for the heirs and sold to them at prices that - relatively - would make a buy-here-pay-here car dealer blush.

Grannie dies, and as part of settling her estate, the kids take the collection to several coin dealers and basically get laughed out of the shops. And end up dumping Grannie's gift into the CoinStar at face - leaving a very bad taste at a difficult time.

And the gold-plated quarters surface again and again as "I found a rare gold quarter".

Oh, and the heirloom-quality rosewood box is usually vinyl or veneer over MDF and emits toxic fumes when burned.

 

Wasn't that Max Mehl? Of course the mass media of his time was magazine and newspaper ads.