1983 Quarter

no mint sets were issued in 1982 or 1983, so all of the high grade coins had to come from circulation release.

fewer 83-P's were saved than other dates- are such is the conventional wisdom. here's the actual market rate for that coin:

83-P MS-64 $19 83-P in MS-65 $60 83-P in MS-66 $200-300 - depending on eye appeal.

I believe the retail "market rate" is very under-representative. If anyone's willing, try to purchase an 83 in MS-63 raw or slabbed for $20 bucks... let alone a 64. Most honest 63's I've seen at shows and shops are never below $40 anymore, and that's after some hagglin'.

Ask CladKing, he is an expert on modern clad coinage.

I don't know about expert but $20 seems pretty low for a nice attractive MS-60. RedBook and most price guides list most moderns much too low. If you try to get an '83-P for $20 you'll end up with either an AU or a very unattractive coin. Keep in mind that a lot of '83-P quarters really are very unattractive and calling them MS-60 is an insult to all the other Uncs out there. These coins often come with horrid surfaces, poor strikes, worn dies, uneven strikes, and lots of marking. They might have no more detail than a VF and more marking. Collectors can decide what these are worth to them but generally even the worst trade hands over $20.

As WashQuartJesse said if you want a nice collectible example they are going to cost more. You might be able to find a low end MS-63 unslabbed for wholesale price but nice attractive BU, MS-63, or slabbed coins will run much more. I believe wholesale is still in the $40 area for MS-60 so just go from there.

These are grossly undervalued in true Gem and most slabbed coinsd in MS-65 aren't true Gem because they rarely have decent strikes. This is overlooked on this date because finding Gems is so tough.

Many people think fewer rolls were saved of this date but this isn't true. There were almost no rolls of any coins being saved in those days and when mint sets were discontinued the savings rates actually sky-rocketed. Where 20,000 quarters had been getting saved it simply went up to around 100,000 in 1982/ 3. These were far more than enough at the time because no one collected clad. Besides there were hundreds of millions in circulation that were nearly as nice so why bother. Of course over the years the coins in circulation just wear thinner and thinner and there are 100x as many collectors of clads as there used to be. Now when a collector goes out to get a nice attractive BU with a nice strike, or mark free, or struck from new dies he'll find the coins difficult to locate because most specimens have ALL of these deficiencies. There might be no more than a two or three thousand nice solid MS-63 and better '82-P or '83-P quarters so many collectors are still looking. They might have an AU or an MS-60 in their collection as a place holder but they are still looking for a nice solid coin at a price they are willing to pay.

I collect these in Gem and, frankly, I still need to upgrade some of these. The only advantage I have is a better estimation of populations so I can probably outbid most people for the coin I want. It was harder in the old days before the internet and coin grading services because just finding the BU rolls and various mint sets to check was very difficult.

It is the lack of mint sets that makes the coin tough in any grade. But what very few collectors realize even today is that not only do most modern come from mint sets but almost all the Gems tend to come from mint sets especially for low denomination clad. So without mint sets the number of nice attractive BU coins is severely restricted even though many more coins were saved for these years. Price guides understate the prices of moderns intentionally for various reasons and inadvertantly because they don't care about moderns so rarely update the prices. This has served to suppress the market in US modern and foreign moderns in the US. But these foreign markets are skyrocketing in the coutries of issue.

I used to say moderns weren't cheap because they were common; they were cheap because there's no demand. Now it might be more true to say moderns are cheap because they've had the foot of the price guide publishers on their throat for over 40 years. This is hurting more now than ever before because now there is a little bit of real demand. Much of this demand doesn't actually manifest because most collectors won't spend $50 for a coin that lists at $10. If demand isn't actually satisfied in a sale then it's not real demand. This is killing these markets.

Great insight, cladking! Thanks for the writeup.