What Are The Criteria For A "Key Date?"

Again => thanks for responding ....

However, again => apparently there are no strict guidelines defining a key-date coin ... and honestly, I understand that they are the hard coins to collect compared to other coins in their "series or categories", etc ... I was merely wondering if there was more of a written/understood/more-formal set of guidelines or thinga-ma-bobs associated with key-dates (but apparently the answer is "no, not really") ... so I am going to write the first official guideline/description:

KEY-DATE COINS:
=> they're merely the coins that are hard to find because they're from comparatively low mintages, war-time hardships, melting-n-smelting of coins, etc => oh, and they're also the coins that you probably don't have in your collection, but if you do have 'em, they must have cost you an arm and a leg" ... end of quote

Thanks again for responding

Thanks glenzy1 ... hey, if I was to randomly state what "I" feel are the key-date Canadian 25 cents pieces (quarters), do you think you dudes could "justify/agree/disagree" with my choices? (I'm sure I'll, get a couple o' bites from this nasty pool of sting-rays!)

; )

Oh, and although I "love" collecting Newfie 20's, I'm not going to mention them in my list, okay? (but they're "all" key-dates in my mind!)

stevex6's Canadian Key-Date "Quarters":
1858 20 cent => 730,000 mint (sure, not a quarter, but definitely the first key-date)
1870 25 cent => 900,000 mint (yah, the "first" Canadian quarter has got to make the list, right?)
1871 25 cent => 400,000 mint ... yes
1871H 25 cent => 750,000 mint ... hmmm?
1875H 25 cent => screwed it up with the 1874+1875 count! => but "definitely" key-date!
1880H 25 cent => 400,000 mint ... yes
1881H 25 cent => 820,000 mint .... maybe not?
1882H 25 cent => 600,000 mint ... hmmm?
1883H 25 cent => 960,000 mint .... maybe not?
1885 25 cent => 190,000 mint (yummmy)
1886 25 cent => 540,000 mint ... hmmm?
1887 25 cent => 100,000 mint => yeeeeehhaaaaaaa!
1888 25 cent => 400,000 mint ... probably
1889 25 cent => 70,000 mint =======> my personal favorite!
1890H 25 cent => 200,000 mint ... sure
1891 25 cent => 120,000 mint ... yup
1892 25 cent => 510,000 mint ..... hmmmm?
1893 25 cent => 100,000 mint ... yup
1894 25 cent => 220,000 mint ... sure
1899 25 cent => 420,000 mint .... hmmm?
1902 25 cent => 460,000 mint .... hmmm?
1904 25 cent => 400,000 mint ... hmmm?
1906LC 25 cent => 240,000 mint ... sure
1906 SC 25 cent => yah, if you've got one of these, then you win the game, hands-down!
1908 25 cent => 500,000 mint ... hmmm?
1915 25 cent => 240,000 mint ... probably
1921 25 cent => 600,000 mint ... hmmm?
1927 25 cent => 470,000 mint ... hmmm?
1931 25 cent => 540,000 mint ... hmmm?
1932 25 cent => 540,000 mint ... hmmm?
1933 25 cent => 420,000 mint ... hmmm?
1934 25 cent => 380,00 mint ... hmmm?
1935 25 cent => 540,000 mint ... hmmm?
1936 Bar and/or Dot => but that's because they're error/interest coins ... not exactly "key-dates"
1951 Low Relief 25 cent => again, that's more of a error/interest, isn't it, or is that a key-date?
1970 25 cent => 10M ? => but is that considered a key-date, because it's lower "comparatively"?
1983 25 cent => 13M ? => is that considered a key-date because it is so much lower than its friends?
1991 25 cent => 460,000 mint ... definitely a "comparative" key-date, right?

... etc, etc ...

Ive honed it down to my final answer (better known as my 3rd glass o' wine summary)

FINAL SUMMARY:
1858 20 cent => 730,000 mint (sure, not a quarter, but definitely the first key-date)
1875H 25 cent => screwed it up with the 1874+1875 count! => but "definitely" key-date!
1885 25 cent => 190,000 mint (yummmy)
1887 25 cent => 100,000 mint => yeeeeehhaaaaaaa!
1889 25 cent => 70,000 mint =======> my personal favorite!
1906 SC 25 cent => yah, if you've got one of these, then you win the game, hands-down
1915 25 cent => 240,000 mint ... probably
1936 Bar and/or Dot => but that's because they're error/interest coins ... not exactly "key-dates"
1951 Low Relief 25 cent => again, that's more of a error/interest, isn't it, or is that a key-date?
1991 25 cent => 460,000 mint ... definitely a "comparative" key-date, right?

Wow, nobody out there knows enough about Canadian quarters to give me their point of view on my list of Key Dates?

Given my original list of 40 coins that I listed above, I chopped that list down to my 10 finalists ... does anybody agree, or disagree with my final choices? (was I too harsh, or not harsh enough?) ... did I come-up with the correct list of key date quarters?

anybody? ... anybody? ... Bueller?

Thanks for responding DBM ... that makes a lot of sense.

"One from each series", eh? => that is the first formal rule/criteria I've heard so far ...


1875H is the key-date for the Victorian Series.

"1906" (not 1904) is probably the key-date in the Edward-VII Series, right DBM?

1915 is the key-date for the George-V Series.

1948 is probably the key date for the George-VI Series, (or maybe 1947?)

1954 is the key-date for the Elizabeth-II Series (Laureate Portrait)

1970 is the key-date for the Elizabeth-II Series (Tiara Portrait)

1991 is definitely the key-date for the Elizabeth-II Series (Diademed Portrait)

? for the key-date of the Elizabeth-II Series (Uncrowned Portrait) => she's still ticking ...

... and then as you mentioned, there could be semi key-dates within each of the series (yup, that's my new way of categorizing my quarters)

Thanks again for the rule, DBM (I like it!)

For the Edward VII 25 cents series, I would consider the 1906 Small Crown to be a rare variety that is so freakishly rare in decent grades to be excluded from consideration. The 1906 Large Crown generally goes for about half the price of the 1904.

So for regular issues, I would say that 1904 is the key date regular issue, with 1905 not far behind.

For George V, I think everyone agrees with 1915, with 1921 and 1927 being about half the price of the 1915 at better grades. The 1921 and 1927 are about 2 1/2 times the next rarest/most popular, the 1911.

For the George VI, I would say 1938 is the key date at most grades, with arguments for second place among the 1939, 1947 and 1948.

For the Elizabeth II series, I agree with 1954.

littlemoney => I'm thinking that semi key-dates are coins that didn't actually get the title of key-date (the rarest of the series), but were the runners-up (dates that are hard to find, but aren't the absolute rarest of the series) ... right?

Mr Canada => I also have collected what I call a complete set (again, maybe not containing all of the obverse varieties and not all of the extreme outlier gems such as 1906SC, etc) ... however, I keep trying to upgrade the collection to higher and higher grades ... at the moment, I only have 14 "vg" coins to replace, the rest of the coins range from Fine through Mint condition ...

My latest upgrade was a 1915 VF-30 => the 1915 quarter was what started me thinking about key-date coins (I wanted opinions whether it was actually a key-date coin) ... all of you agreed that the 1915 was a key-date coin, so that made me happy with my new purchase.

Thanks for responding