2019-W Amp Quarters Premium?

A very long time ago I realized that trying to figure out the thought process in others was a wasted cause. The 2019-W (and now 2020-W) Quarters are the only non bullion, non commemorative coins issued beginning in 1939 that I do not have. Two million of these were released into circulation for each design. That on its own does not warrant calls of rare or the like, and since last year the prices of these coins have come down in price quite a bit. This includes the coin for the American Memorial Park. Why each of the four carries a different price requires analysis of thought processes. Greed causes a slot of strange things as well, and the root of all of this is greed. I will stick with the cheap seats and enjoy the many coins I already have.

Next time your in line to purchase something, take a look at how "younger" people (lets say 25 years old and under) are paying for things, they use plastic or their phones.....just saying

Greasy Fingers, Your observation is spot on. Coins don't mean much to younger people because they're not as much of a part of their daily life. Stamps are another example. They're not needed for communicating with people far away, so there is no emotional attachment. The same is true of cars. They don't represent the means to be able to communicate with peers like they once did because young people are constantly in contact with each other when they're not together. Therefore, cars and car racing simply don't mean much to younger people. When all is said and done, I think the mint's efforts are mostly going to be in vain.

Conder101, You seem rather irritated at the thought of people being able to purchase -W quarters directly from the mint. Why would you have an issue with the mint selling off of its website at a reasonable premium AND putting some in to circulation as an enticement for people to look through their change? Why can't there be a win-win solution that makes those who like to pick coins out of circulation happy and those who like to buy mint state examples directly from the mint happy? One does not undermine the other. If you think that the mint offering the W's on their website does undermine the reason for putting them in to circulation, ask yourself this. How many children have been able to get all of the 2019 W's out of circulation? I know that I've been looking and have not seen the first one, so I'm pretty sure that finding all the 2019's within the attention span of a child is going to be near impossible. The children that really want to complete their sets will have to buy on the secondary market. Given the prices that the 2019-W's have been selling for, that will cost them more versus what the mint would have charged at a reasonable premium. At the least, the mint offering them for sale would have kept the secondary market prices for the 2019-W's down at a more affordable price for young collectors. For example, if the mint had offered a 5 coin -W quarter set for $10, they would in effect be putting a $2 secondary market cap on the price of each quarter that a child couldn't find in circulation. I think that lower costs for the ones they have to purchase would be more likely to keep them in the collecting hunt.

I don't see a huge difference in paying the Mint $10 for something or paying Jim Bob in Biloxi $10 for the same item. Other than the packaging, you're getting the same thing, right? Good ole' American capitalism in action.

I suppose it's possible I might feel different if I were putting together a set. I found my only example in a roll of MS quarters.

I for one like what the mint is trying to do by only putting these in circulation. I have been searching for the W quarters since they were announced. I haven't seen a single roll of 2019 quarters yet from any bank in my area. That just makes me want to try harder to find these quarters. I love the thrill of the hunt and I know that I am not alone. My wife finally found one W quarter (War in the Pacific) a couple of weeks ago at her store. The luck of the draw. I will eventually buy any W quarters that I don't find but that won't be for at least a year. Whether this plan creates new collectors or not, it doesn't hurt. I love it!

No. The original intention was to bring children in to coin collecting. The means was by providing them the opportunity to find rare coins in circulation. This could have been done regardless of whether or not the mint offered them on their website. Given how they were distributed, how difficult they are to find and how much they're now selling for, that's been a fail.



Great idea. Perhaps that's the new distribution method they've eluded to.



Sales of 2019 mint sets are at about 320,000. I see no evidence that collectors would buy the -W quarters at a rate of three to six times the number of mint sets sold. In fact, I suspect the sales would be significantly lower. The mint could easily set a product limit of 100,000 or 200,000 which is only 5% or 10% of the mintage total.

It's just speculation on my part, but I'd say it has something to do with the distribution. If the AMP wasn't as well distributed, it might sell for more even though the mintage is the same. Take the Truman and Eisenhower reverse proof Presidential dollars. Both had the same mintage, but the household limit of the Truman was five while the household limit of the Eisenhower was two. I don't know what each is selling for now, but for the first couple of years after their releases, the Truman sold for considerably more than the Eisenhower.

Given the mintage, they're certainly rare by modern standards. If they're offered on the website, the total mintage isn't changed, and 90% to 95% are still put in circulation, they'd still be considered rare in circulation.



Keep the children in mind here because that's the stated purpose of this whole thing. How difficult is it for a child to find all five -W's in circulation? Pretty much near impossible. That leads to discouragement which will not keep them interested in coins. That's what leads me to believe this whole thing is a fail. Good intentions in the beginning, but a failure in execution.



And you base this on what? The -S quarters can be bought for 1.47X's or 1.975X's face straight off the website. A coin selling for 8X's face (at $10 for a set of 5) with a total mintage about twice as high wouldn't likely have more demand. Again, keep in mind that we're only talking about putting 5% to 10% of the total -W mintage on the website. The rest would still be put in circulation for the children to find. Therefore, it wouldn't make a significant impact on their odds.

BTW, this discussion is pretty much moot. They're doing it your way.