1965 silver Quarter?

I work as a cashier at a grocery store. A customer handed me the correct change and i noticed a really beat up quarter so i took it and replaced it with a quarter in my pocket. The year was 1965. I took it home and showed it to my father who dropped in on the table. He insisted it was silver. I used google to see what years they minted silver quarters; they stopped is in '64. However the coin appears to be silver. Its in a really beat up condition so im not exactly sure if it is silver. I dont even know if that possible. Has anyone heard of a silver '65 quarter. Advice on what to do?

 

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It is not silver. Hope this helps!

 

how can you tell?

 

No 1965 quarters are silver. It is a cool coin though. Makes you think what the coin has been through.

 

Nope. Sorry but it is simply a very, very abused common clad quarter.

 

it is possible a silver planchet is used, but it's really rare, in that condition, even if it's silver not sure it would be worth much.

 

Looks like it might have been in a fire ? :devil:

 

It is true that a few 65's were minted in silver and are insanely rare! One in UNC could fetch over 5 grand. The easiest way would be to weigh it.
Silver: 6.25 grams
Clad: 5.67 grams

Good luck. Oh, and even in that conditions it could fetch a few hundred in a slab? fingers crossed and I sent you a 'liked' for luck...

 

Yes, there were a few silver 1965 quarters, but that's not one of them. It's clad. And the weight may not be accurate since it's been destroyed like that. However, if it's the clad weight or less, then you'll know it's clad.
If you have to ask, then you probably don't have a silver 1965. I imagine they're probably all accounted for.

 

The only way a 1965 quarter could be silver is it was struck on a silver planchet by mistake. Mint stopped using silver in business strikes in 1965 except for the half dollars which were 40% clads and they were the only circulating coin containing silver from 65 -71 .

 

Redeem that puppy for a new quarter.

 

1964 Silver Coins were minted well into 1966.

Silver quarters dated 1964 were minted well into 1965 in Denver along with their clad counterparts which is how the 1964-D Reverse of 1965 Washington Quarter came into being. A single reverse die intended for the newly redesign clad quarters of 1965 got used in the Denver Silver presses. This is known as the Type C Reverse.

http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=2923&lot=1627

http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=2559&lot=1773

 

there is no accounting for however many were struck in silver. It's not like they intentionally minted 27 of them. I can't call that one silver or clad, but it is unlikely to be silver. Condition is horrible, so even if silver it would be a 3 figure coin.

 

Drop the little devil on a concrete floor or any hard surface for that matter. Do you get the distinct "ring tone" that silver exhibits?

 

The best way to determine the composition of your quarter is to do a Specific Gravity (SG) test on the coin. Search the forums for simple instructions on how to do a SG test.

If your coin is 90% silver (which I am certain it is not) it will have a SG of 10.34.
If your coin is a normal clad quarter (which I am certain it is) it will have a SG of 8.92.

 

As beat up as that thing is, I'd just scrape the edges with a sharo knife and look for a copper core. It certainly would not hurt its value regardless of what composition it might be.

 

yeh it's a million to one on it being silver, you could almost drill a hole in this one to check it.

 

I understand, but I was just saying it's incredibly unlikely that a 1965 error quarter on a silver planchet is going to just be discovered today. Someone would have found it by now. All that were struck have probably been found.

 

HuH ? Since a 1965 quarter stamped on a Silver planchet is extremely rare and highly sought after by even casual collectors, the condition of yours makes it suspect in my mind. I see that it is damaged, but appears to have seen a lot of circulation. Unfortunately, rare specimens generally get removed from circulation fairly early. I mean the greater number of people who handle one, the greater liklihood one of them is going to take it out of circulation. IMHO

gary