A few of my older relatives passed away some years ago, and I thought all of the coins that they had scuttled away over the years had already surfaced. But, just today, this little box full of silver quarters and dimes (with 3 exceptions) came my way. I was told the relative, who had lived through the Great Depression, had put these away around the time that the US government announced the pulling of silver from circulation. This box then arguably represents one reason why the government pulled silver coins from circulation: people were hoarding them. For the curious, here is a rundown of what the box contained, which might give a small snapshot of what date varieties circulated at the time, probably in the early-mid 1960s. The lists show year and mint mark followed by total number in parentheses. Quarters 1935(1), 1938(1), 1939(1), 1940(1), 1941(4), 1941D(1), 1942(3), 1942D(1), 1943(1), 1943S(1), 1944(4), 1944D(1), 1945(2), 1945D(1), 1946(3), 1947(1), 1950S(1), 1951(1), 1951D(2), 1952 (5), 1952D(1), 1953(1), 1953D(4), 1954D(5), 1955(1), 1956D(2), 1957D(5), 1958D(3), 1959D(2), 1960D(4), 1961D(3), 1962D(8), 1963(3), 1963D(7), 1964(8), 1964D(35), SLQ T2 no dates(3), non-silver(3) Total Quarters: 134 Face Value (134 x .25): $33.50 Silver weight (131 x .18084oz = 23.69004): 23.6oz Not surprisingly, the older quarters show considerably more wear than the later ones. This might suggest that they were all pulled out of circulation at roughly the same time. Some of the 1964 examples look absolutely pristine, while the 1930s examples look heavily used. The box also included 3 no-date T2 SLQs and 3 non-silver coins: 1970D, 1974, and 1981D. Dimes 1937(1), 1941(1), 1941D(1), 1942(1), 1942S(1), 1943S(1), 1944D(1), 1945(1), 1945D(1), 1946(1), 1946D(1), 1948D(3), 1951(1), 1951D(1), 1953D(1), 1956D(1), 1957(1), 1957D(2), 1959D(1), 1960D(4), 1961D(2), 1962D(1), 1963(2), 1963D(5), 1964(6), 1964D(10) Total Dimes: 52 Face Value (52 x .10): $5.20 Silver Weight: (52 x .07234oz = 3.76168): 3.7oz The dimes generally follow the same condition pattern as the quarters, but the earlier dimes show considerably less wear than the earlier quarters. Overall, the dimes look far better, regardless of date. The box had sat in a closet for over 20 years, then presumably in another closet, possibly for a few decades before that. In any case, a nice little surprise on this freakishly warm autumn day (at least for my part of the country).
It's actually pretty cool that those couple of clads were in there, really nails down the timing and helps to tell the story.
Actually, people didn't start hoarding them until the mint announced they were pulling the silver. That plus the one coin people DID hoard, the 1964 JFKs, is what did it. That's why there are so many 64 JFKs out there in mint state.
Like the relative I mentioned above, some people hoarded all silver in circulation, both in anticipation of the announcement and after it. The 1964 JFK was hoarded, for sure, but that was far from the only one. 1964 silver coins in general can be found easily in pristine states for the same reason. The 1964 JFK provided a double whammy due to his assassination and that the coin was silver.
I remember in those days (early 60s) getting SLQs from my mom for lunch money...I wish I knew then what I know now.
I agree, but it's hard to tell whether they were added later to a previously existing pile or not. The dates and the condition of the majority of the coins in the pile don't really correspond to the clads. Plus, something I didn't mention, the clads are in far worse shape than the vast majority of the silver coins. They are horribly scratched, blackened and pretty nasty overall. So I didn't know quite what to make of them. But they were definitely in there.
