Is there any other US coin that prices out like a 1796 quarter dollar ?

Without looking at current lists, the coin used to be like 10k in Good and 60k in low mint state. I know that is because of a stash of unc coins was saved, but still weird, IMO.

very unusual coin....I've never even seen one in any grade, but a lot of those left are unc.

 

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UNC hoards of coins are not uncommon. Look at flowing hair h10, a collection of UNC's was found in the 1880's.
Morgan hoards were discovered in the 50's, 60's, 70's etc.

 

Here's a couple, 1885 CC dollar and 1928 Peace dollar.

 

with the Morgans I think you'd kind of know there is a risk of bags showing up. In fact I know this actually happened. I can't recall the year/ mint, but a once rare date became much more common as the last Morgans got freed in the 60's or 50's.

 

Same thing happened with 1925 sovereigns. The original issue was pretty rare, but more of that date were minted during the 1949-1952 period (even though the King on them, George V, had died and been succeeded by George VI). So a scarce coin became common pretty quickly.

Another example of weird distribution os the very rare 1943 Irish 2 shilling coin. Probably only a dozen or two are known, and 4 are in Unc, the rest Fine or lower - VF or EF examples just do not exist.

 

Yep, the most popular example was the 1903-O. Before the bags were discovered it was the key date, listed at $1,500 in Uncirculated condition. Then in a matter of days the price went from $1,500 to $15.

 

I knew it was an late O mint, but forgot the year, ouch owning that, but the risk was known with the inventory stored.

Why was the Peace dollar even made when there were Morgans stored ?

FIFO ( first in first out). Good thing the gov't doesn't run a restaurant.

 

I think the 1796 quarter is still kind of unique

One of the oldest US coins, scarce in any grade, but a lot of uncs exist.

10k in good, 60k in unc.....not meant to be up to date pricewise. I don't think any other 18th century us coin prices out like that.

I think I'd buy an 09svd in high mint state instead of VF, even though I couldn't buy the rest of the early Lincolns in MS-64 RB.

 

They were struck since the government issued a lot of silver certificates, and the quantities of morgans in storage was not enough to support the quantity of certificates they wanted to issue.

 

That sounds about right for the Government. If you run out of cash or money, just print more.

 

Like medoraman said, the silver dollars were used to back the silver certificates. The other reason revolves around the Pittman Act of 1918, which authorized the melting of up to 350 million silver dollars. Besides authorizing the melting of the dollars, the Pittman Act also specified that all dollars melted would be replaced. This meant the U.S had to coin 270,232,722 silver dollars. Production of the silver dollars to replace those melted under the Pittman Act started in 1921 (with the last year of the Morgan dollars, and the first year of the Peace dollars). Production of Peace dollars continued until 1928 when the mint reached 270,232,722 dollars, at this point mintage of Peace dollars stopped. Peace dollars weren't minted again until 1934 under the Thomas Amendment.

 

UNC hoards still pop up today.
About 4 years ago I purchased a bag of UNC 1887-O morgans
Went through the bag and Realized the overdate 1887/6-O was prevalent in the bag. In the end 476 1887/6 O were recovered and slabbed. Took me 2.5 years to disperse so I wouldnt devestate the market.
UNC hoards always pop up frequently.

 

Similar but at a lower price level is the 1822 dime. Only 200 or so exist, many in lower grades but also a handful of mint state coins.

The 1804 quarter is another interesting one. I believe it is actually scarcer than the 1796 quarter, specially in higher grades. However, it prices at much lower levels than the 1796.

 

1931 S Lincoln comes to mind as well.

 

You can think it's unique, but it's not that uncommon. Several early date Cents fall into the same category when hoards were discovered at in the middle of the 19th century. In one case, a barrel of cents (it's how they used to be shipped) fell under the station platform and was discovered when it was being rebuilt or torn down. In other cases, hoards were discovered and used to advertise a grain mill. (Randal Hoard)

 

1913-S type 2 Buffalo and 1903-P Morgan also come to mind. Plus, a lot of late rare date gold just didn't circulate at all.

For whatever reason, and this goes back to long before I worked here, I've seen quite a few 1796 quarters in nice shape. Yes, they really are rare (unlike some other key coins), but for whatever reason, they don't have the impact on me that a 1796 or 1797 half does.