The futility of searching circulating coins for silver- Washington Quarter edition

Clembo mentioned the fact that people started pulling silver coinage from circulation almost as soon as they discontinued it. I haven't seen anyone mention the big price rise in the eighties. If there were many silver coins left by then they were sure to be pulled out. Especially the quarters. They are big enough to easily see they are silver and actually circulated where the halves did not.
I don't think total mintage of silver quarters has much to do with the % of a chance of finding one today.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Right after the underlined part:

"This leads me to believe that despite the high mintage for 1964, circulating coinage has been diluted and picked over for so many years that trying to search batches of quarters (or most anything anymore), would be insane. They were probably picked over in the early 80s more than they are now."


As for what Clembo said, I didn't even realize everybody started pulling everything starting in 1965, but I'm not surprised.

The mintages can't be used as a realistic, scientific study now. I only used them as a starting point or base line. I just wanted to make the point that the best possible scenario of finding a silver quarter would only be around 4.7% if everything was still in circulation. We know it's far worse than that though. More like Hobo explained.

 

Picked in the 80s? Try picked in the 60s. My mother who was in High School when the clad switchover happened remembers everyone hoarding silver back in 1964 and into 1965, she remembers that when she graduated high school in June of 66 it was almost a joke that all the formerly silver coins were brand new. Also she remembers half dollars basically disappearing from circulation. Apparently the shiny new clad coinage made the silver coinage really stand out, making it even easier for people to yank it from circulation. Plus, there were a lot of circulating Mercury Dimes, Walkers, Franklins, those were all grabbed easily.

 

I have found only two silver quarters in circulation my whole life... a 1964 a few years ago and a 1948 about 20 years ago (was about 12 at the time). Silver dimes I've had much better luck with; in the about 2 years I worked as a cashier at Sam's Club, I found about 20 of them. I've found about 3 since (but I work in a much lower volume retail job now, where the vast majority pay by credit card, not cash, so don't have nearly the volume to search through). My theory is that silver dimes have managed to escape notice better than silver quarters and thus more are hiding in circulation than quarters.

I searched through a $500 box of half dollars once just to find 5 silver halves, all 40%. With only a 0.5% success rate decided it was pretty much a futile effort and haven't bothered to do mass half searching since. Besides, in Colorado you get a lot of slot machine abuse victims (most of the halves were circulated through slot machines in the casinos in Central City and Blackhawk. Beats them up terribly and wears the reeding right off the edge!)

 

Your sentiment is more along the lines of why I search, but if it means anything to anyone else, I pull on average about 1 to 2 silver quarters out of circulation every week. I got about 7 standing liberty quarters in 2008. In just the past year, I've filled about 30% to 40% of my Washington Quarter books ('32 to '64).

Yes they are tough, and if the only thing you are looking for is silver, then yes, quarters will be very boring.

I've also found several proof quarters over the past year. As I recall, the late sixties had some really tough dates for me. Sadly, I don't remember the exact dates I filled last, but I do remember settling for something like F to VF condition and really don't expect to find much better. (although the cool stuff seems to jump out at me when I least expect it).

But in today's environment, nickels are where the action is at. On average, you can find up to a 100 pre-1960 nickels in a $200 bag. I've found 3 1950D nickels in circulation last year, but still haven't found a 1938S or 1939D to finish off my jefferson book.

Pennies are also a hot spot for action. I've found about 8 Indian Head Cents last year. I also found a 1909VDB in about XF condition (and no matter how hard I strain, I can't find the S).

Hope I inspired somebody.

 

Oh and about the comment regarding only looking at the edges. I've reduced myself to doing that with the quarters, but I do look at every "shiny" edge. I'm continually finding older Washingtons in AU or better condition and upgrading my book with them. Sure I may be passing up some rare error coin, but I do balance a little bit my time versus the potential rewards.

 

Yea, I missed that part. oops.

 

A woman at work found a 1958 quarter in change -- pretty decent condition, too.

She gave it to me for free, because she knew I collected coins!

 

I just want to say that silver change IS still out there...when I worked as a cashier supervisor for Target, the only ONLY part of my job I enjoyed was putting the change in the drawers in the morning and taking it out at night. I'd find at least 5-10 silver coins a week, and about 25-30 wheaties as well as older Jeffersons.

Wish I still had that job...

I get lucky because my aunt is a cashier at Schnucks (local supermarket) and every year for my birthday gives me a handful of coins she's saved. Usually involves a few silver dollars, even - so people are still spending them.

I need to work for Coinstar...

~benjamin

 

It is still out there.

I saw the title of this thread for the first time yesterday as I was browsing the forum, and by whatever chance alignment of the stars, I get my first and only silver quarter from change today. Buying lunch from the student union at school, I heard that telltale jingle in the change the cashier was giving me. When it dropped into my palm, sure enough, a very worn yet very silver washington quarter. I didn't ask for it, or see it before hand - before I realized what was going on it was within my grasp (pun intended).

It's a very circulate and beat up 1942 phillie mint. It wasn't even a '64 or something recent.


It's all a matter of luck.

 

Wow. LOL! Thanks for sharing! If only that thing could talk. You just wonder if it's been circulating around or laying in a bank somewhere. Or if somebody just spent it out of somebody's collection. Who knows? Still I would say a rare occurance. I get change nearly twice a day or more, almost every day of my life. And I haven't found anything yet.

Last summer, my dad had a pop machine at work spit out a 1958 quarter. Half way decent shape. He gave it to me. It's safe to say they're out there but surely few and far between.

 

Vess - your calculations do not include all the silver that has been melted. Don't forget the many who have brought in coins to dealers who then have them melted. I think a lot of lower graded silver coins have met this fate. So, over time, I think the official mintages are not very helpful to understanding the number of examples available!

Roll searching is not for me, but hey, if you have the time & patience, have at it.

 

My dad just got a 1941-S Merc in change. I'd grade it at least VF.

 

If we define a coin being "in circulation" as having been in continuous commercial circulation since it's date of minting then I will say that the number of silver dimes and quarters that are still in circulation is ZERO. There is not ONE dime or quarter that has been in continuous circulation since 1964.

The ones that are being found now are ones that have recently been placed into circulation from private collections or hoards. That's one reason why the ones being found are generally in fairly nice condition. It's doubtful that any silver coin put into circulation now lasts more than a few weeks at the most before being found and removed from circulation.

Half dollars seem to be a slightly different case since it's been 40+ years since they freely circulated and Kennedys never really did circulate. When the Kennedys came out in 1964 they were a popular coin, but only for hoarding. The same for the 40% ones. Almost everyone who came across one simply held onto it.

About this same time (1965-1970), half dollars in general ceased being a commercially usable coin and the great majority of them wound up in drawers or they just made their way back to banks where they remained, for the most part.

Then in 1980 when the great silver buy by the Hunts occurred, the useless halves were sought out and turned into usable cash, along with any low grade dimes and quarters still circulating.

Although silver halves can still be found in rolls, they've probably been those rolls for 20+ years, or they're part of personal hoards recently turned in to banks. They definately haven't been circulating.

What this all boils down to is, if you want to find silver dimes or quarters, you have to be lucky enough to find them before they have been back in circulation for more than a few days. If you want silver halves, your only real option is getting old rolls from a bank.

 

Ok, David, you said it better and more eloquently than me.

I agree with you 100%. When someone finds a 1958 quater there is ZERO chance it has been circulating continuously for over 50 years. It was probably plucked from circulation by someone in the late '60s or '70s and reentered circulation very, very recently.

 

BQ...I was there in 1972....took a cattle car transit out to Camp Schwab for Infantry training with 3rd Batt 8th Marines, 3rd Marine Division

You just brought back some memories for me...LOL


RickieB

 

As unfortunate as it is I agree. When my 11 yr old son started collecting we went through app. $4,000 in quarters in 2 months from various banks and never saw a single silver. But as long as he enjoyed it...I'm happy.

 

Dont forgot people are cashing in their old change jars for gas money and groceries with the way things are right now, thats gotta be putting some old coins back into circulation. I personally have pulled 3 64 quarters 3 59 quarters 1 64 dime and 1 60 dime from circulation lately and that was just change...not roll searching. That being said i have never even seen a war nickel in hand.

 

Perhaps, perhaps not.

I posted in another thread how I found 34 silver halves last week, evenly split between 2 boxes. Since one of the boxes had an '04-P in it, I'd assume it was packaged very recently. In that case, based solely on numbers, I'd bet those halves had not been in circulation and did indeed come from a "stash" and were rolled and boxed up together. 34 is too many to have come from multiple sources at once and then wind up in rolls together. That, in turn, lends some creedence to your argument.

Conversely, I've also had boxes with rolls of newer halves that contained one or two silver coins. Those, I'd bet, did circulate and wound up in someone's hands who didn't know what they had. They just tossed them in with the 71s and up, and that was that until it was time to cash out.

It has been my experience that the vast majority of the non coin-collecting public believes all Kennedy halves are "valuable" because they are so rarely seen. In that sense, to them a '64 is no different from a '69 which is no different than an '89. It is valuable simply because it is a Kennedy half. Never mind the number minted, the condition, what if any silver content, etc.

Equally important and relevant is that these same folks are, in the main, clueless when it comes to silver content. And, when it is confirmed to them that they do indeed have a silver coin, the "uninitiated" tend to vastly over estimate the value of common circulated silver. Accordingly, if they believe it is silver, they are much less likely to spend it at face value.

 

I have found at least 2-3 Silver quarters in my day, I am 28 now and haven't found one since probably before 1997. those 3 were found between 1993-1997. I have never found one from 1998-2009 and I always look down at my change. I found a silver dime in 2007.

Sincerely,
Donn

Edit - I also found a Silver Canadian Quarter in 2007 ;-) and 0ne silver Canadian Dime