The US Bicentennial Commission was formed on July 4th, 1966 in preparation for the Bicentennial. Will the 250th anniversary celebration result in more coin issues than in 1976? Will they be just as worthless 39 years later??
My 1975 Daniel Carr silver Washington fantasy strike quarter is less than a year old and is holding it's value quite well! He still has some clad versions of them available. The Silver 1976 Quarters still hold at least intrinsic value to spot price, and nice proofs a bit over that. I have mentioned this numerous times on this forum, that I have regularly saved and rolled circulated Bicentennial quarters and resold them in the neighborhood of $25-$30 per roll.
The worldwide proliferation of commemorative coinage will undoubtedly have an impact on what coins the USA may plan to issue for the 250th anniversary of independence in 2026. The coinage choices of 1975-1976 were made in VERY different times. Emphasis was exclusively placed on coins for circulation with a nod to collectors with silver clad versions. Gold coins were off-the-table and could not be issued. The Washington quarter had become the workhorse of the clad coinage system while the Kennedy half dollar was in its final stages of actual circulation and the Eisenhower dollar could be found in circulation, but was not popular. There was pent-up demand for American commemorative coins since none had been issued since 1954.
I would love to know why, as well. I remember keeping all the Bicentennial coins I found in circulation and piled up over 3200 quarters, alone. The value went nowhere years ago.
I never bothered to save em either. Even though it's my birth year. Coins from 1876. Now those are cool don't remind me I'll be 50 then if I make it that far!
I'm thinking that searching for the DDR's which exist in that year might be a reason. I "might" consider paying that amount "if" the seller were an antiques dealer with little to no coin experience. I scored a bunch of 1972 Type 2 IKE's using that method on eBay once.
Those I sold were checked for errors and anything that might help their value, before being listed. If they took that approach, it didn't work for a few people already.