Question For Those Who Were Established Collectors In 1965

I wasn't around in 1965. However, in my grandfather's culled silver collection, there are quite a number of 1964 silver dimes that look brand new. That suggests he pulled them immediately upon the switch, or shortly thereafter.

Oddly, that does not seem to be the case with quarters. Just dimes and halves, for whatever reason.

In the late 1960s I was aware of the shift from 90% silver to clad. I put 90% dimes, quarters, halves in a jar. Back then silver spot price was only about $1.50-$2 oz so for me it wasn't a huge gain to keep 90%. I lived in a small town, the nearest coin store was forty miles away. I graduated high school in 1970. But I failed to understand the long term value of 90% and ended up spending all the jar change for car gas.

The whole thing was a disaster but we all knew even in 1962 that it was coming.

In 1964 there was a date freeze and all future coinage was to be dated 1964. This simply killed the coin hobby which had come to rely heavily on BU rolls and mint/ proof sets. If this weren't bad enough when clad came around late in 1965 there was a new date freeze and all future coins would be dated 1965 even though 1964 silver was still in production. The new coins looked like garbage. Initially the new coins were well made but this didn't last at all and they were almost invariably very badly made. Mint and proof sets both were discontinued during this time though the mint eventually relented and made SMS's that nobody liked because they were a PR/ BU hybrid.

Also at this time a bill was introduced in Congress that would make it illegal to even collect modern coins. It was quickly realized the law was unnecessary because the new coins were universally hated. At first the early dates were offered for sale by the roll but there were no buyers and most of the coins went into circulation.

If all this weren't bad enough all the old coins in circulation started disappearing with the nice ones first. So the coin market popped and all the collectible coins in circulation dried up. The hobby began a 30 year long dark ages with almost no new collectors. It was so bad in the mid-'90's that most coins had no real premium except what buyers thought they could junk them for. You could buy things like XF '24-D cents for a couple dollars because there were no buyers for most collector coins. Only the rarities from the 19th century were strong. Almost everything under $1000 was hard to move at all.

I started collecting Buffalo nickels in 1957. In those days there were lots and lots of nice F and better coins. Most of the pre-1927 coins were lower grade and the scarcities had already been removed but you could still find a lot of nice coins. But during the coin shortage everything was getting plucked out. By 1967 F Buffalo nickels were a thing of the past and virtually every pre-1926 was dateless. Most of the circulating buffalos were culls or dateless and most of the others were dated 1935 to 1937. Despite searching more rolls I don't think I added a single coin to my buffalo collection from circulation after about 1964, not even an upgrade.

Old timers told me the quality of circulating buffs in circulation began eroding during the war. Better dates had been available in high grade before 1941 but with the country on a war footing everyone was working and had money. By 1957 this had become rather extreme. Older baby boomers were saving coins out as well by this time. But the erosion accelerated very rapidly in 1964/ '65. This affected all denominations. Merc dimes had been distressingly common but even these began disappearing except for slicks and culls.

There were still the occasional keeper and even today you can find something interesting from time to time but everything had been picked out by the mid-'70's and if you find something today it's because it got back into circulation, not because it had stayed in circulation.

I was also 6 in 1965, and I remember my grandfather separating silver quarters and half dollars from his change and putting them in a metal box he'd made.

When I started collecting around 1968 it wasn't too unusual to find silver in change, so many holes in my Washington quarter and Roosevelt dime albums were filled that way (my mom and an aunt were treasurers at their churches, and were always watching for silver coins and wheat cents in the collection plate for me! ).

Even well into the '90's 35% silver wartime Jefferson nickels weren't too uncommon to find. They were easy to spot as they were generally very dark, and I think most people just weren't aware they had silver content.

I was only 3, but I was getting silver quarters when my baby teeth fell out.. (think Tooth Fairy)

My Mom was also collecting in the sixties. She ordered proof sets and uncirculated sets from the mint but most of her collection was coins from circulation. She was well aware of the change in coins and worked harder to find as many silver dimes and quarters as she could.
I mentioned before that I was in high school and worked nights at a burger stand. I set aside all of the wheat cents, Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes and Kennedy half dollars that came in each night and brought them home to her. Those coins were easy to recognize but I didn't have the time to check the dates on all of the regular dimes and quarters.

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