Collecting Bicentinal Quarters

Does Anybody Here Collect The Bicentinal Quarters? I Collect Them Because I Like The Look. Are They Even Worth Keeping? I Thought A Few Years Ago They Were Going To Be Rare But Their Not. I Went To The Flea Market A Few Weeks Ago And I Got Two Uncirculated Bicentinal Quarters. I Always Tend To Keep Anything Under 1976 Because They Say The Average Lifespan For I Coin Is 30 Years. I Figure In The Future I Will Be Glad I Kept Pre-1976 Coins Because They Will Be Old. I Like To Think That I Will Give Them To My Kids And It Will Be Like My Dad Giving Me Something He Found In Circulation 30 Years Ago. I Looked In The Coin Guide And It Said The Uncirculated Bicentinal Quarters Are Worth $1 Each. I've Always Wanted To Know Why The Uncirculated 1983 Quarters Are Worth So Much. The Usual For Uncirculated Quarters Are A Dollar But The Uncirculated 1983p Quarter Is $7. Is That A Rare Date? Maybe I Should Consider Keeping Every 1983 Quarter I Find Because You Never Know, It Might Be Worth A Lot In The Near Future.

 

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There are two factors working very strongly to prevent bicentennial quarters (or Ikes for that matter) in anything but the very highest grades (think MS69-70) from ever being worth much over face value (regular coins) or bullion value (part-silver coins).

• The mintages were huge, and
• Everyone and his cousin Ralph set them aside, because they expected them to become valuable.

End result - sufficient supply to more than meet any conceivable demand.

 

Very well said Roy, this is one coin that will never be worth anything in any grade, nor will the 1976 proof or mint sets just too many people have them. That to bad to, the quarter has a nice design the half and the dollar will have no value also.

 

I collect every one i find . Never know

 

It's unfortunate, but whenever the Mint puts out something really nice, it immediately becomes popular. This almost ensures that it will never increase in value. On the positive side, it makes things like bicentennial quarters affordable to collect.

 

I have always figured they will never be worth anything as well-but I set them aside anyway. I don't see them but every once in a long while so its not costing me a lot of money or anything. I figure, in 10 or 20 years you'll basically never see them in circulation (since I rarely see them now)-and who knows, maybe someday I'll have a couple kids who want to start their own little collections and I'm sure a couple rolls of bicentennial quarters would be a fun thing to have for that.

 

I used to pull out bicentennial quarters when I ran across them. I finally got tired of them taking up space and put them on ebay a few months ago, after S&H and ebay fees I pretty much got face value for them. Circulated bicentennial quarters just aren't worth the trouble IMO.

As for the 1983 quarters there weren't any mint sets put out that year (or 1982 either) so B.U. coins from those years are a little short in supply.

 

Clad quarters wear very slowly because they are extremely durable and their light weight means less force as they slide over surfaces and each other. They also have a low velocity (turnover) in circulation and often sit for a few months or years in mint storage. Each time a quarter trades hands it has about a 10% chance of sitting for weeks in a vending machine or up to three years in storage smoewhere. Couple with the fact that they turn over only about eight times a month anymore and few people carry them in pockets and do strenuous work or exercise and you have a prescription for all the coins wearing albeit slowly. Collectors for the main part have never set most of these aside so they've all acquired significant wear mostly in proportion to their age. The '76 is less worn since these spend much more time in the hands of horders. Historically only 20% are in circulation but since the states coins were released this is now up to around 60% and some are starting to show their age.

Since these wear so slowly if you set aside a VG 1967 quarter today there are still enough F's and VF's that some of these will still be in better condition than your VG in twenty years. For this reason I'd suggest saving only the nicer versions. Even more strongly though I'd suggest assembling a collection of these comprised of the best examples you can find. This makes a fun and challenging set and it will show you just what is possible and highlight the differences between coins referred to as varieties. Before you spend those lower grade coins it might be wise to check them for the various varieties.

The 1983-P quarter is mispriced in most guides in unc for some reason. This coin trades at $25 wholesale and you can not find a true unc for $7. Be careful as there are lots of coins on the market which are nearly uncirculated and priced at 25 or $30.

High grade, nicely made '83 quarters should be retained. These actually retail for up to $20 as AU's. There are two types of reverses on the '83-P though neither is especially tough. The scarcer type "d" or small motto is characterized by a greater distance between the right side of the "N" in "UNUM" and the eagle's head than the large motto (type "c") version. All souvenir set coins are type "c". Of the eight different privately made mint sets six do not contain type "d". Of the two that do, they are scarce in the set. In unc the type "d" is quite a bit tougher.

 

Like everyone else, I saved some also. I have a roll or two of the quarters. I
lucked into some of 1976 $2 FRN, crisp Uncirculated, in sequence at the local
bank about 10 years ago and I have kept those also, except for some I have
used for tips or gifts Always surprised at how few people have actually
handled a $2, some think it is a fake. I spent most of the bicentennial coins
I saved for the same reasons others mentioned above, but I like the notes,
so kept most.

 

I also keep them, i have about 5$ of the quarters, lol.
I figure one day, when im 80 years old, I'll open my box of coins and be like "hey, look at these"
and by then they'll be worth 30 cents each!

edit: predcarn, thanks for reminding me, i gotta get some 2$ bills so i can spend them!

 

!976-s silver in ms69, in a PCGS slab trends for $9000.00
Only a few ms68's have been graded by them.
1976-D clad ms68 in PCGS slab trends for $3250.00
only a few in this grade have been graded by them.
Go to PCGS.com and click on the price guide on the menu.

I've been taught that grading of coins is just an opinion and no matter who grades the coin, there will be a disagreement. With the exception of SGS, they stink!
Just because the coin is circulated, does'nt mean it's worthless, just not worth as much as new.

 

I have about 300 in a large bag. My grandma always saved them and the habit passed on to me. My wife runs a cash register and she always buys them when she gets them. I will always horde them. We do have to keep in mind that yeah, maybe today they're face value, but somebody has got to collect for tomorrow's generation. I look at my 1858 Large Letter MS-64 Flying Eagle and thank the stars everyday that somebody had the foresight to put that thing away and keep it nice! Else I wouldn't have this type of enjoyment we coin people all know and love! The original owner probably didn't make much off my Flying Eagle either, but they still did me a wonderful service So, if you enjoy saving coins, keep doing it. Who knows what kid you might end up inspiring in 2125 .... No you won't make money on them, but you'll keep the hobby going

What I do for investment part though is I do buy all 1976 S - Silver quarters I can. Now those you can get a few bucks for. They still made a lot of those, but they are FAR less common than the ones in circulation. Plus, there is a lot of silver in them! Can't go wrong with a precious metal right?

Esky

 

It's apparent that no one reads the open forums (advertising), as I asked for one of these and there was but one reply (either overpriced or didn't reply back).

 

1976 silver quarters

:hail: I was making a point when I told about the value of a good one. Some of them are not worthless.
I've had mine since 76. Had them graded new. They have a high value.
As for me not watching the advertising section, I'm new here and have'nt gotten that far yet. But I promise I will go there soon. Mine are'nt for sale tho, but someone may still answer you from this section now that the word is out. Keep the faith. Also, I see them all over ebay, might try there.:hammer: Just keep banging away. Pam:hail: Gotta go.

 

One thing to remember is that PCGS price guide is the pits---they hype up the prices so that really isn't what the coins go for.
The best guide is ended online auctions---like Heritage
To the best of my knowledge there is only ONE graded MS69 and that is in a PCGS holder
Heritage lists the last MS68 sold for over about $210.

Speedy

 

It is true that there are a lot of coins overpriced in the PCGS guide but don't simply assume any
are overpriced. There are also some that are underpriced. As stated your best bet is to check
the actual auction prices but these too, can be misleading. There is little demand for many of
these so there may be no motivated buyers at any given time and not all MS-68's are created
equal; it could be an especially nice specimen or a dog.

Most MS-68 clad brings pretty good money because it is scarce or rare. The bicentennial quar-
ters are a little more readily available than most. While very scarce in the '75 mint set, they are
more findable in the '76 set.

 

I'm glad you said that Cladking, I've wondered about PCGS prices. Alot of the ebay sellers are always quoting their price guide. I usually use it as a trends guide. Should I? Which grading company do you think is the most accurate? Anyone? Or do I need to start a new thread to ask about this?
Bikerpam

 

I've gotten it now and in case it wasn't clear, I didn't mean you or anyone specific. Just in general, not many seem to read the open posts. I posted asking for various type coins (that's about as general as one could get) and I think last I looked after a couple of weeks there was one view. One.

 

Ohhhh heh I see.