1965 and 1990 Washingtons

[Tavis]

I got a roll of quarters for the laundry here on campus, and when I was looking through them, I found a 1965 with no mint marking, and a 1990 D. The 1990 looks better than the 1990 S's that were in the same roll, did Denver only make proofs? It looks way cleaner, more detailed, etc, than a S, especially for a 18 year old coin. Also, did the 1965 have any silver in them at all? Sorry for the questions, I'm fairly new at coins and don't know too much about them.

 

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[FredCobol]

1) The 1965 has no silver. 1964 was the last year for silver quarters.

2) In 1990 Denver did not make proofs, San Fransisco did. So do you really have 1990-S's? If you do then they are proofs and should be very shiny so I'm confused. Any difference in appearance is probably due to the quality of the original strike and the amount of circulation.

 

[Tavis]

Well darn, I thought that 64 was the last year, but my one friend kept insisting that it was 40% silver. And yeah, I had a suspicion that it was just from the original strike and circulation, still looks really nice so maybe I'll hold to it.

Also, out of the 10$ worth of quarters, only 6 of them are from Denver. Is it just because they're farther west than Philly, and so most of them stay out west? Or do they just not strike as many? And, what mint do coins come from if they don't have a mark? I have a 74 here, looks in decent shape but doesn't have a mint marking. Thanks in advance!

 

[FredCobol]

Half dollars were 40% silver from 1965-1970 but not quarters.

No mint mark means Philadelphia.

Philadelphia and Denver usually make about the same number of coins but it varies from year to year.

The coins do tend to stay closer to the mints that they come from.

 

[Tavis]

Why does Philly have no mark, and P is on some coins? Doesn't the P stand for Philly, or is it for something else? Doesn't seem to make much sense to mark some coins and not others.

 

[FredCobol]

All coins except the penny made in Philadelphia starting in 1980 have the P mintmark. Before that the coins made in Philadelphia had no mint mark except for war nickels.

 

[Emperor Findus Cladius]

1) The 1965 has no silver. 1964 was the last year for silver quarters.

Not quite entirely true. Some of the 1976 Bicentennials were made in 40% silver for Unc and Proof sets.

 

[FredCobol]

1) The 1965 has no silver. 1964 was the last year for silver quarters.

Not quite entirely true. Some of the 1976 Bicentennials were made in 40% silver for Unc and Proof sets.

This is true but I think that Tavis was mostly interested in circulated coins. The mint has offered silver coins in collector sets such as in the 3 piece bicentennial set and now in silver proof sets that have been made since 1992. You would likely never find any of these in circulation.

 

[Emperor Findus Cladius]

Believe it or not my brother found one in circulation a year or two ago, so they have been found. I personally have not found one, but have found some modern commemerative halves in circulation hunting rolls. Never can tell what you will find out there.

 

[Cerulean]

All quarters 1964 and before are 90% silver. All quarters 1965 and later are copper-nickel "clad".

Any coin with no mintmark was made in Philadelphia. The P mintmark was added to all coins except the penny in 1980. The P and D mints have not made proofs since the early 60s.

Since 1955, the S mintmark has only been used on proof coins, circulation nickels from 1968-1970, circulation pennies from 1968-1974, and Susan B Anthony Dollars from 1979-1981.

If you have quarters with the S mintmark, save them! They are very rare to find in circulation.

 

[Emperor Findus Cladius]

All quarters 1964 and before are 90% silver. All quarters 1965 and later are copper-nickel "clad".

There were some bicentennial quarters minted in 40% silver for mint an proof sets. Some of the sets have been broken up and the coins spent. All post 64 quarters for general circulation were clad, but as stated previously there were some minted in silver for the mint sets.