Modern Quarters

Greetings, All.

I'm currently wading through a pile of Washington quarters. Came up with a few 1999 Delaware quarters. Cross referencing with PCGS site, it appears that the 1999-D Delaware is highly valuable based on a sale price of $1,380 back in 2003:

https://www.pcgs.com/auctionprices/item/1999-d-25c-delaware/5945/5215508785982846205

I'm trying to ascertain if it was due to either variety or error factors. Take a look at the 1999-P Delaware quarter that was sold for $4,880 due to an experimental planchet:

https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1999-p-25c-delaware/5944

Do you see the two different variables with these Delaware state quarters. If one owns a 1999-D quarter, then it's good to for approximately $1,300 if it's graded at MS68 or higher, correct?

I've scoured the CoinTalk site on quarters which did not pull up any threads on 1999 Washington quarters.

Could someone please help me understand better?

 

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There's nothing inherently valuable about the quarter in question. The first coin you cited appears to be the single finest example ever graded by PCGS, the only MS-68 they've awarded. Some people will pay up to own the best example in the world.

The second coin was struck on a golden planchet when they were searching for the alloy that would become the Sacagawea dollar, so it's also unique. Again, people will pay up for a unique rarity.

Most 1999-D quarters are worth face value, maybe a few pennies more if they're really nice.

 

I read that as a "Collection" of all of the state set over possibly all of the issue years. The price of the single illustrated coin appears to be $5.00

 

Thanks for correcting me. Upon a closer look, it does state the coin in the link is MS-64 with a $5 value, not the MS-68 best of breed.

 

Thanks @desertgem and @LakeEffect for your responses.

I agree that modern quarters generally do not have a real value of and by themselves. All of this is based on the RedBook values, however, the 1999 Delaware quarters lead me to do some further research which was how I came across that particular $1,380 quarter value.

Several of those quarters in my pile are pretty shiny--meaning high luster. So, I've cross referenced them using the below guide in sorting out the "meh" quarters from "should keep an eye on" quarters:

 

It looks like the MS69 quarter photo had several Botox treatments or face lifts!

 

It's good to understand that there are coins made for circulation that *can* get valuable in high grades due to conditional rarity. Like that one. There may be hundreds or thousands of MS-66s which technically is an excellent, near perfect grade and a small minority out of the millions made. But still plenty to satisfy demand, which keeps the value down. Only so much interest.

Once you surpass that level and go to 67 the population may drop off a lot. Usually takes perfect condition, strike, high luster. A rare condition specimen. Those might be worth $100 as an example. Then if there's one or two examples deemed MS-68 by the graders, they are a conditional rarity that people with registry sets will likely bid up to have the finest know because they are worth the most points for the spot in the registry. This is where a lot of that comes from. Most people on this forum, literally a coin collecting forum, would not pay $100 for any modern circulation quarter. But some will pay thousands for the right one for their set. The next time it goes on sale it may go for much more or much less.

Then you have collector versions like the silver proof set, satin proof sets, mint sets, that will have quarters with the same designs. The majority of these will be excellent condition all the way up to MS69 and 70 so you'd think those should be really valuable, but it's not really that impressive because they're supposed to be flawless. The majority will be that way so again, prices will stay relatively low for those reasons.
The top grade in the plain old Ps and D's meant for circulation ( read as, no special handling so they get beat up on their way to huge mint bags to bang around against others) are usually a much bigger deal.

There's really no point looking for one. I would imagine some dealer somewhere who gets a discount at some third party grader sends in rolls of quarters for them to grade and lets them have at it. Maybe a flyer ends up coming out of that submission that ends up paying for the whole submission with profit left over. Most of the time, no. It'd just be like finding a lucky scratch ticket. You'll lose money playing that game. But that gives you an idea how one might come about in MS-68.

Most rolls meant for circulation will not be worth the cost of submitting (can be $25 with discount up to $50 per coin full turn around if you do it yourself). Grading is costly and takes a long time to get anything back. You could spend a grand getting a random mint roll of quarters graded. Get it all back and maybe get a couple hundred back out of it if you spend the time to list them all individually, pack them, ship them, deal with people, etc. If you could sell them at all.

 

You ain’t lying

 

I personally don't like this guide. Too many flaws. For one, they skip many grades and two, they use several years not the same year.

 

@Vess1, thanks for schooling me on the intricacies that's involved in locating a high quality coin. You've provided valuable points on the preparation process in getting the coins organized for grading. All of that sounds a lot to take into consideration prior to sending them to TPGs for official grading. It's a complex operation for sure!

After reading threads here and elsewhere about TPGs, I recognize that it's not an exact science nor completely objective. I've concluded that some slabbed coins with assigned grading seem to come from a subjective position that is wholly dependent on the individual grader. Variables that influence the final determination of a coin's grade include the grader's experience, mood or state of mind, and eyesight capabilities irrespective of the available professional grading equipment. For instance, one grader from PCGS would grade a certain quarter at MS-67 and another grader from NGS would deem the very same quarter MS-68+. It appears that an infinitesimal increase or decrease in a grade has a significant impact on the coin's value. It could mean a difference of $100s or $1000s for a particular coin.

Amazing, huh.

 

Yes, you're correct that particular visual guide does not encompass all grades. For me, it's a useful quick visual guide for me to spot check the appearance of a coin. I'm also using two other visual guides that I find to be helpful as well. I think that they are useful visual toolboxes for newbies like me.

 

Neither am I understanding that. Can anybody pull up the actual quarter? Given this, I'm thinking it's some kind of freak...

 

Yes, this topic has been hashed and re-hashed. The graders can be fairly aware of making those decisions as well. If there's only one or two MS-68s, there can be a reluctance to assign another unless extremely worthy.
Something else to keep in mind is that at least at NGC, coins are viewed by multiple graders and then there's a finalizer that gives it one last review before it goes out the door. So supposedly there's three sets of eyes on every graded coin going through and anyone can speak up and change the grade, even after it's encapsulated.
Some gradeflation takes place due to toning. Someone recently posted a good thread on Morgan upgrades over the years. One went from a MS-66 PCGS slab with a CAC sticker to a MS-68+ NGC holder recently.

But yeah, there's always subjectivity. To me there is a lot of value of sending a raw coin through there and just getting a straight grade depending on what it is. It's hard picking out older loose coins online that haven't been messed with that will straight grade. You find out just about everything not in a slab has been cleaned in some way.

 

It's PCGS that uses multiple graders. Not NGC.

 

@lordmarcovan & @GDJMSP, perhaps you could help answer this mystery? Thanks!

 

Thanks for your responses. I have two Delaware-D coins that were recently uncovered from my pile of quarters that are in a fairly good condition. I'm holding on to them for the time being.

 

Modern quarters have been an area of interest for me as of late, particularly circulation clads from before the state quarter era. I have purchased several slabbed MS65 and 66 examples and per the PCGS price guide the prices have been going up. Some dates (65-67, 82-83) didn’t have business strike mint sets, and even dates with mint sets had sets broken up and/or low quality coins. Most of the Washington Quarter demand seems to be for the silver issues, and likely not many clads were saved.