Evening all... I was moving boxes of 2x2 coins from one spot to another and had a lovely moment when one box decided to slip out of my grasp - meaning every coin in that box got tossed out onto the floor and I received the exciting opportunity to go back through it and put all the coins in order again. Hooray! Lesson learned. However, as I was sorting, I came across my stash of 1991 Canadian quarters and decided I wanted to get some more information on them. I've noticed that there are three distinct finishes to these coins: BU, PL, and Proof. When I look through my Krause, I get the following information: 1991 BU - mintage 459,000 (Prices: MS60/$6.00 MS63/$12.00 MS65/$65.00) 1991 Proof - mintage 131,888 (Price: PF65/$20.00) There is no listing for a Prooflike issue. When I look at my Charlton catalogue, I get the following information: 1991 - mintage 459,000 (no separation of mintage figures by finish) There are prices listed for MS, SP, and PR, but no mintage figures. I see online that a Specimen set like this one was issued with 68,552 sets sold, and from the same seller a Proof Double Dollar set like this one was issued with 131,888 sets sold. Which made me pull out my Charlton Collector Coins issue and check the back, where I see the same two mintage figures for the Specimen and Proof sets, respectively. Should I then go forward with the information that for 1991 Canadian quarters there were 459,000 Business Strike (MS) coins struck, 68,552 Specimen (SP), and 131,888 Proof (PF or PR) struck? Honestly, I just want to label them correctly and I found most places like Numista don't mention the SP finish (in fact, Numista has Proof-like with a mintage of 131,888 pcs. and no mention of Proofs, but with a delineation between narrow and wide reverse rim denticles - which I've never heard of until today.) Coins & Canada doesn't list mintages in their price guide with the individual coins. Maybe it's listed on their site somewhere else? In case anyone was going to ask, I have 22 MS, 5 SP, and 1 PF. Also, if anyone has more experience with the varieties listed on Numista's page, and would like to share, I would appreciate that. Thanks!
PL coins are those issued in the soft plastic mint sets. Coins & Canada lists these sets in their own pages that take some digging to get to, but it gives a mintage of 147,813. Another site I use for info on Canadian coins is Calgary Coin. While it is a dealer's site, he often includes info on individual coins that no other site has. On the 1991 quarter, he states the following:
The 1991 takes me back . As a kid it was what we were all looking for super rare and in fact I don’t think I ever saw one in circulation(I’ve found significantly more silver and more George V nickels) . The Royal Canadian is Strange at that time there were mint , specimen, proof like and proof sets . As were slightly different finish later I recall the RCM started putting special loonies in some of them .
