Mind-Boggling Prices for Washington QuartersSeveral of the highest graded
Washington quarters were sold by B&M in an auction on April 15 in the Chicago area. The Marquette-Yakima collection was the number one collection in the NGC registry of
Washington quarters. With the addition of about twenty super grade common quarters, it could have been very competitive in the PCGS registry, if it had been entered.
The $143,750 result for the Marquette-Yakima 1932-D quarter has already been reported on CoinLink and elsewhere. The purpose here is to itemize several of the gem quarters in the sale, and to discuss the rationale for current prices for such quarters. Do Superb
Washington quarters constitute logical price values for quarter collectors?
The Marquette-Yakima 1932-D is the only 1932-D quarter that the PCGS has graded MS-66. None have been certified as grading MS-67 or higher.
The 1932-D has the second lowest mintage of any business strike in the series, a mere 436,800, and has always been the hardest to find in choice uncirculated condition. The 1932-S has a slightly lower mintage and is almost as scarce as the '32-D in the MS-64 and higher grade range.
According to Kathleen Duncan, a collector purchased this specific 1932-D from Pinnacle Rarities in the mid 1990s, and that collector consigned it to an August 2001 Heritage auction. HA.com lists the price realized as $89,125.
Actually, $89,125 in 2001 is, in some sense, more than $143,750 in 2008. Rare coin markets were extremely weak in 2001. The prices of many coins have since tripled. Indeed, some early gold coins have more than quadrupled in value. Yet, the most famous and valuable
Washington quarter has gone up only 38%, and all the while the
State Quarter program continued to receive national attention. Besides, over the last ten years, there has been considerable speculation that PCGS would certify more 1932-D quarters as MS-66, yet not one additional 1932-D has been so certified.
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Posted 05/10/2008 05:22 am
