Statehood Quarters: A Few Numbers

Perhaps, but given how many are being hoarded, I think a large percentage will remain in higher grades...for a long time. That's not to suggest they won't be valuable someday, but look at 50s era quarters...they've been around for 50 years, yet still BU grades are relatively cheap--and far fewer were minted.

I don't think the State Quarters program targeted coin collectors, but more like the "collectibles" crowd. They're selling to the the beanie baby/collector spoon/plate/"limited edition print" group. A lot of stuff has been churned out by various mints to appeal to this demographic, and it will reach a saturation point soon--which will wash back into garage sales, flea markets, and ebay. Once the fad is over, actual collector demand will set value.

I probably sound a bit negative on the quarter program--but not totally. I'm glad these have interested a new group of collectors. However, I think a few people have bought these expensive plated/colorized State Quarter sets for $$$, only to later discover the premium over face will be negligible.

Another reason for the increase in quarters, along with the population, is the utilitarian aspect. When I was a little boy, a penny got you a gumball and a dime got you a soda. Also, a dime would get you a pinball game play. You would be hard pressed today to find any type of vending machine that takes any coin smaller than a quarter. The State Quarter program was designed to create more collectors, but even without it, the vending portion of the US Economy runs on the quarter thus creating demand for more quarters.

The decline of the half-dollar as a circulating coin after 1963, and the $1 bill's continued use hampering the popularity of every dollar coin from the Ike to the Presidentials, is what's kept the quarter the 'king of the vending machine coins'. I find loading Quarters at the car wash to be so annoying that I make an effort to get Dollar coins just to use at the car wash!


"Inflation adjusted" value losses have happened for a number of older collector coins as well.

Someone had posted a page of the 1966 Red Book on another thread, and it was immediately apparent that many of the 'common-date' Mercury dimes on the page have lost up to half of their value, when adjusted for inflation. The glaring exception was the 1916-D, which is now worth 'double' its 1966 value when adjusted for inflation.
Coin collectors might be in for some surprises (good or bad) if they check the prices listed in a '50's/'60's Red Book and adjust them for inflation with any online 'inflation calculator'....

This would mean that the 'best' time to get a 50-set of BU State Quarters (by nod2003's criteria) would be at the time just before their cupro-nickel base metal value starts to be a price-affecting factor. Say, when they're worth about 20¢ in cupro-nickel, maybe about 40 years from now.


A lot of the 'general public's' hoards of State Quarters are just circulated coins in AU or worse condition, and they may be thrown in jars, boxes, drawers, etc... (not exactly candidates to send to a T.P.G.S.!) A bad economy for a few years will see a lot of BU rolls and singles being spent by the 'collectors', as well! 20-30 years of them being 'low-value' will ensure a lot of attrition through spending and circulation, as it should be, really!

Clad coinage totals 1965 to 1998.
Mintage numbers taken from MARCH 2008 COIN PRICES magazine.
If you find errors in yearly totals it's probably my fault.

YEAR TOTAL
1965 1819719505
1966 821103466
1967 1524033815
1968 322267468
1969 290585969
1970 553763334
1971 367920399
1972 526117704
1973 579903373
1974 1154708274
1976 1669904831
1977 725082955
1978 808827130
1979 1005499759
1980 1154161467
1981 1177440814
1982 980975770
1983 1291343429
1984 1223030048
1985 1295783835
1986 1055499979
1987 1238096164
1988 1158864676
1989 1409405586
1990 1541432171
1991 1201936684
1992 774543099
1993 1284754121
1994 1705636104
1995 2107553995
1996 1831909996
1997 1195421997
1998 1717269998
GRAND TOTAL 37,514,497,915
YEARLY AVERAGE 1,136,800,985

NOTE: All 1975 quarters were dated 1976 and are included in the 1976 total.

Since I do not collect any of my coins for future money value (any added value is a bonus), I guess I am covered.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Of course, you know how I am about sentimental value.

Just look at the 1975/76 mintages.. Mint prob hoped people would hoard them for decades, which they did. Not much premium there 33 years later..hmmm.

Especially if they're only really going to go up in value after you're dead!