Subjective Coin Grading

Grading has always been subjective, always will be to some degree.  What you are trying to do with the coin can sway your opinion.

West Point Quarters

Q: What's better than finding the secret toy surprise in the bottom of a box of Cracker Jack?
A: Finding a quarter with a W on it.

A couple weeks ago I announced the possible release of West Point Quarters into circulation.  How fortunate for my reputation that this turned out to be true!  The US Mint made the announcement on April 2: They are out there. 

They should start showing up in banks within the next couple of weeks.  One fellow commented on a video by Blue Ridge Silver Hound that he had found 4 already.  It's still a bit early for that and the fellow has yet to verify his claim with photos.  Unless those photos show up I call BS.   The time it takes for coins fresh from the mint to move through distribution networks to reach local banks suggest the first W-Quarters will be available starting around the third week in April.  The coins are being mixed with Philadelphia AND Denver quarters and are available ONLY in circulation.  The US Mint will not be offering these quarters for sale.

Let the hunt begin!

That video by Blue Ridge Silver hound mentioned above is where I learned of the bounty offered by PCGS: $5000 for the 1st West Point Lowell Quarter to be submitted for certification.
In addition to the First Discovery, they'll be offering special holders with First week of Discovery and Early Discovery pedigrees.  I suppose all the hubbub and excitement of people submitting a pile of coins in the next month will allow PCGS to recoup the bounty.

REWARD!

I have also offered a reward for the 1st West Point Quarter donated to The BIG Show: a 2001 Proof Set!

I'll enhance that offer to allow a choice from several potential items, just in case the winner already has that proof set.  I just have to clean up the desk a bit to find some good stuff.

Meanwhile the quarter will be added to the BIG Show Package and some lucky viewer will win it.

What Will They Be Worth?

Aside from the first discovery submitted to PCGS that will bring the owner a fat payday, the big question everyone is wondering is what sort of premium these coins will fetch?

Each of these 5 America The Beautiful quarters with the West Point mintmark will be limited to a production run of 2 million units.  This will put them tied in 205th place for least produced Washington Quarters.  See Mintage Chart below.  This makes them hardly a rarity.  As business strikes go, they will be a bit less common, with only 1932 D, 1932-S, and 1937-S being produced in fewer numbers.

What we'll see is a burst in value as collectors seek to complete their sets.  There will be some speculation as these coins are found, certified, promoted, and hyped.  Much of the value will be novelty in the first weeks after discovery.

I remember the discovery of the 1995 Doubled Die DDO-001 (CONECA) and all the fuss.  Articles in Numismatic News, lots of talk on the early internet chat groups.  It even made the cover of COINS Magazine.  These things were HOT!  I recall prices reaching into the 4 digits when it was first discovered.  Over time, as more specimens were found, prices cooled.  Nowadays, Superb certified specimens can be picked up for less than $100.

The Mint has never been all that great at promoting its products and even less great at putting out a decent product.  Most of the quarters that find their way into circulation will be overlooked by an apathetic public.  It's the collectors in the know who will be furiously hunting these quarters down.  Perhaps media exposure will put people on alert for later issues this year but with 2 weeks notice and a media more concerned with celebrities and politicians, this special issue has already seen most of the fanfare its going to get.  We can always hope for a 15 second sound bite late at night during a 24 hour news channel looking for a human interest story after a neti pot commercial.

It will be the coin roll hunters and coin dealers who will hunt these coins down.  Upon finding one you can take comfort in knowing these folks will run out to purchase every last quarter roll in town they can get their hands on in the hopes of building some inventory.  What they don't grab will work their way into circulation to be scraped, smudged, and screwed up forever.  It won't take but a couple weeks for the circulated specimens to take on all those nicks and dings that make us cringe and weep.  I project 2 classes of resulting coinage: Minty Fresh, straight out of the roll and well protected, and the run of the mill stuff.  These will be separated by 2 weeks of circulation.

I made a video last night picking through a brand spanking new roll of 2016 pennies.  Fact of the matter is most of the coins in these new rolls won't make MS65.  Looking at PCGS and NGC population reports for Mint State modern coins, MS67 and higher are few and far between, and many of those were from Mint Sets, Mint Rolls, and maybe a mint bag here and there.  These West Point quarters have already lost most of the high grade examples during their trip from the Mint to their designated targets.  Many have yet to be sacrificed to the coin rolling machine demons and every overexcited 12 year old coin roll hunter with no gloves

Coins above MS66 will command a handsome premium.  I've heard estimates of hundreds to the low thousands.  That would be consistent with what we see in other issues.  Perhaps the Novelty Premium will add another 20%.  The hunters and dealers will save tens of thousands of coins fresh from the rolls.  They'll be good for $5-10 based on the mintage figures.  Circulated specimens, of which I expect the lions share of production will end up as will offer little numismatic value.  Their greatest value will be in attracting new collectors to the hobby. 

In my opinion, that makes them PRICELESS!

That's my 2¢.
Happy Hunting and Good Luck.


Mintage Chart for Washington Quarters through rank 205

Rank		Date/MM		Mintage
1		1964	SMS	50
2		1936	Proof	3837
3		1937	Proof	5542
4		1938	Proof	8045
5		1939	Proof	8795
6		1940	Proof	11246
7		1941	Proof	15287
8		1942	Proof	21123
9		1950	Proof	51386
10		1951	Proof	57500
11		1952	Proof	81980
12		1953	Proof	128800
13		1954	Proof	233300
14		1955	Proof	378200
15		1932 S		408000
16		1932 D		436800
17		2012 S	ELY Silver Proof	557891
18		2012 S	CHA Silver Proof	557891
19		2012 S	ACA Silver Proof	557891
20		2012 S	VLC Silver Proof	557891
21		2012 S	DEN Silver Proof	557891
22		2013 S	WHM Silver Proof	579409
23		2013 S	PVY Silver Proof	579409
24		2013 S	BAS Silver Proof	579409
25		2013 S	FMH Silver Proof	579409
26		2013 S	RSH Silver Proof	579409
27		2010 P	HOT Satin	583897
28		2010 D	HOT Satin	583897
29		2010 P	YST Satin	583897
30		2010 D	YST Satin	583897
31		2010 P	YOS Satin	583897
32		2010 D	YOS Satin	583897
33		2010 P	CAN Satin	583897
34		2010 D	CAN Satin	583897
35		2010 P	MHD Satin	583897
36		2010 D	MHD Satin	583897
37		1956	Proof	669384
38		1995 S	Silver Proof	679985
39		2011 S	GTB Silver Proof	722076
40		2011 S	GLA Silver Proof	722076
41		2011 S	OLY Silver Proof	722076
42		2011 S	VKB Silver Proof	722076
43		2011 S	CHK Silver Proof	722076
44		1997 S	Silver Proof	741678
45		2008 P	OK Satin	745464
46		2008 D	OK Satin	745464
47		2008 P	NM Satin	745464
48		2008 D	NM Satin	745464
49		2008 P	AZ Satin	745464
50		2008 D	AZ Satin	745464
51		2008 P	AK Satin	745464
52		2008 D	AK Satin	745464
53		2008 P	HI Satin	745464
54		2008 D	HI Satin	745464
55		1993 S	Silver Proof	761353
56		1996 S	Silver Proof	775021
57		2009 P	DC Satin	784614
58		2009 D	DC Satin	784614
59		2009 P	PR Satin	784614
60		2009 D	PR Satin	784614
61		2009 P	GU Satin	784614
62		2009 D	GU Satin	784614
63		2009 P	AS Satin	784614
64		2009 D	AS Satin	784614
65		2009 P	VI Satin	784614
66		2009 D	VI Satin	784614
67		2009 P	MP Satin	784614
68		2009 D	MP Satin	784614
69		1994 S	Silver Proof	785329
70		1999 S	DE Silver Proof	804565
71		1999 S	PA Silver Proof	804565
72		1999 S	NJ Silver Proof	804565
73		1999 S	GA Silver Proof	804565
74		1999 S	CT Silver Proof	804565
75		2006 P	NV Satin	847361
76		2006 D	NV Satin	847361
77		2006 P	NE Satin	847361
78		2006 D	NE Satin	847361
79		2006 P	CO Satin	847361
80		2006 D	CO Satin	847361
81		2006 P	ND Satin	847361
82		2006 D	ND Satin	847361
83		2006 P	SD Satin	847361
84		2006 D	SD Satin	847361
85		2010 S	HOT Silver Proof	859435
86		2010 S	YST Silver Proof	859435
87		2010 S	YOS Silver Proof	859435
88		2010 S	CAN Silver Proof	859435
89		2010 S	MHD Silver Proof	859435
90		1958	Proof	875652
91		1998 S	Silver Proof	878792
92		2001 S	NY Silver Proof	889697
93		2001 S	NC Silver Proof	889697
94		2001 S	RI Silver Proof	889697
95		2001 S	VT Silver Proof	889697
96		2001 S	KY Silver Proof	889697
97		2002 S	TN Silver Proof	892229
98		2002 S	OH Silver Proof	892229
99		2002 S	LA Silver Proof	892229
100		2002 S	IN Silver Proof	892229
101		2002 S	MS Silver Proof	892229
102		2007 P	MT Satin	895628
103		2007 D	MT Satin	895628
104		2007 P	WA Satin	895628
105		2007 D	WA Satin	895628
106		2007 P	ID Satin	895628
107		2007 D	ID Satin	895628
108		2007 P	WY Satin	895628
109		2007 D	WY Satin	895628
110		2007 P	UT Satin	895628
111		2007 D	UT Satin	895628
112		2013 S	FMH Proof	911451
113		2013 S	BAS Proof	911525
114		2013 S	PVY Proof	913563
115		2013 S	RSH Proof	920695
116		2013 S	WHM Proof	950080
117		2012 S	DEN Proof	957856
118		2012 S	CHA Proof	960049
119		2012 S	ACA Proof	960409
120		2012 S	VLC Proof	961272
121		2000 S	MA Silver Proof	965421
122		2000 S	MY Silver Proof	965421
123		2000 S	SC Silver Proof	965421
124		2000 S	NH Silver Proof	965421
125		2000 S	VA Silver Proof	965421
126		2009 S	DC Silver Proof	996548
127		2009 S	PR Silver Proof	996548
128		2009 S	GU Silver Proof	996548
129		2009 S	AS Silver Proof	996548
130		2009 S	VI Silver Proof	996548
131		2009 S	MP Silver Proof	996548
132		2012 S	ELY Proof	1010361
133		2008 S	HI Silver Proof	1020768
134		2003 S	IL Silver Proof	1125755
135		2003 S	AL Silver Proof	1125755
136		2003 S	ME Silver Proof	1125755
137		2003 S	MO Silver Proof	1125755
138		2003 S	AR Silver Proof	1125755
139		2014 S	EVG Uncirculated	1139140
140		2014 S	DUN Uncirculated	1146000
141		1959	Proof	1149291
142		2005 P	CA Satin	1160000
143		2005 D	CA Satin	1160000
144		2005 P	MN Satin	1160000
145		2005 D	MN Satin	1160000
146		2005 P	OR Satin	1160000
147		2005 D	OR Satin	1160000
148		2005 P	KS Satin	1160000
149		2005 D	KS Satin	1160000
150		2005 P	WV Satin	1160000
151		2005 D	WV Satin	1160000
152		2008 S	OK Silver Proof	1192908
153		2008 S	NM Silver Proof	1192908
154		2008 S	AZ Silver Proof	1192908
155		2008 S	AK Silver Proof	1192908
156		2014 S	ARC Uncirculated	1203100
157		2014 S	SHN Uncirculated	1239320
158		1957	Proof	1247952
159		2011 S	CHK Proof	1266010
160		2011 S	OLY Proof	1267361
161		2011 S	VKB Proof	1267691
162		2011 S	GLA Proof	1268452
163		2011 S	GTB Proof	1271553
164		2007 S	MT Silver Proof	1313481
165		2007 S	WA Silver Proof	1313481
166		2007 S	ID Silver Proof	1313481
167		2007 S	WY Silver Proof	1313481
168		2007 S	UT Silver Proof	1313481
169		2013 S	FMH Uncirculated	1314740
170		2013 S	BAS Uncirculated	1316580
171		1992 S	Silver Proof	1317579
172		2014 S	GSM Uncirculated	1360780
173		2013 S	RSH Uncirculated	1373260
174		2012 S	CHA Uncirculated	1389020
175		2010 S	MHD Proof	1397101
176		2010 S	CAN Proof	1399970
177		2010 S	YOS Proof	1400215
178		2010 S	HOT Proof	1401903
179		2012 S	DEN Uncirculated	1401920
180		2010 S	YST Proof	1402756
181		2012 S	VLC Uncirculated	1407520
182		2012 S	ACA Uncirculated	1409120
183		2013 S	PVY Uncirculated	1425860
184		2006 S	NV Silver Proof	1585008
185		2006 S	NE Silver Proof	1585008
186		2006 S	CO Silver Proof	1585008
187		2006 S	ND Silver Proof	1585008
188		2006 S	SD Silver Proof	1585008
189		2013 S	WHM Uncirculated	1606900
190		1937 S		1652000
191		2005 S	CA Silver Proof	1678649
192		2005 S	MN Silver Proof	1678649
193		2005 S	OR Silver Proof	1678649
194		2005 S	KS Silver Proof	1678649
195		2005 S	WV Silver Proof	1678949
196		2012 S	ELY Uncirculated	1679240
197		1960	Proof	1691602
198		1996 S	Proof	1750244
199		2004 S	MI Silver Proof	1769786
200		2004 S	FL Silver Proof	1769786
201		2004 S	TX Silver Proof	1769786
202		2004 S	IA Silver Proof	1769786
203		2004 S	WI Silver Proof	1769786
204		1967	SMS	1800000
205		2019-W	Lowell	2000000
205		2019-W	AMP	2000000
205		2019-W	Pacific	2000000
205		2019-W	San Antonio	2000000
205		2019-W	Frank Church	2000000

The full chart has 642 different Washington Quarters and I have yet to add all the 2019 PDS issues.
More charts