My Washington Dollar Experience

On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:16:22 -0500, "Bruce Remick"
wrote:


I predict that EVERY ONE of these coins will always be a "decent condition"
coin, just like our current pennies, because they will not be carried around
in anyone's pocket more than one day -- if that.

Of course I've been wrong before.

Bruce


I opened a mint roll to give out single coins as gifts, and most of
them where not bad - MS63-64. When I received them in change from the
Post Office stamp machine, more than 75% had been reduced to MS60-61
because of gouges inflicted by the single pass through the vending
machine. These machines spit them out in the same fashion as slot
machines - with force.


Reclining Buddha

The Original Couch Potato!

Reclining Buddha wrote in message
...
On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 17:16:22 -0500, "Bruce Remick"
wrote:


I predict that EVERY ONE of these coins will always be a "decent
condition"
coin, just like our current pennies, because they will not be carried
around
in anyone's pocket more than one day -- if that.

Of course I've been wrong before.

Bruce


I opened a mint roll to give out single coins as gifts, and most of
them where not bad - MS63-64. When I received them in change from the
Post Office stamp machine, more than 75% had been reduced to MS60-61
because of gouges inflicted by the single pass through the vending
machine. These machines spit them out in the same fashion as slot
machines - with force.


Reclining Buddha

I encountered my first Washington dollars today. My wife stopped inside our
bank and each teller had rows of them visible in their open coin trays. She
brought three of them home. My first impression was that I couldn't see the
design! The coins were so shiny and reflective that I couldn't focus on the
coin surface. Almost looked like they were covered with highly reflective
foil. I had to tilt the coin just right before attempting to read the words
"George Washington". I couldn't read the information below the portrait at
all. As for the date, mint, etc. around the edge, all I could see was that
there was "something" stamped there. Makes one wonder why even bother?
Reminds me of ten lines of a microscopic disclaimer at the bottom of a TV
ad, put there only to satisfy the letter of the law. I never had this much
of a problem with any of our other coins. But I guess it must just be me,
as the eyes are beginning to see only what they want to see.

Oh, and I stuck the three dollar coins on top of a short stack of a Sac, a
couple SBA's, and a Canadian bi-metal deuce I keep tucked in a cubby hole in
my desk for reference. My bad.

Bruce

"Fred Shecter" wrote in
:


Vons (the local Safeway) went through their coins in 1 to 2 days and
most are ordering more. Cashiers and customers *loved* them.

Do they have dispensers at the registers that give dollar coins as change?



Barney

"Jass" wrote in news:1172261473.918015.189480@
8g2000cwh.googlegroups.com:

Im all for adding the $1 to the sacks.

Id be shocked if after the quarter state series the new design doesnt
include 25c

Penny could go either way.

I say the Penny should just go away!




Barney

"Barney" wrote in message
...
"Fred Shecter" wrote in
:


Vons (the local Safeway) went through their coins in 1 to 2 days and
most are ordering more. Cashiers and customers *loved* them.

Do they have dispensers at the registers that give dollar coins as change?



Barney
==================
Not at the three Vons stores I visited. No dollar-sized tube at the
checkout stand.
You have to ask the manager at the service counter for what you want to buy.
I was told by a cashier that they didn't have any at the service counter. I
went there
anyway, and waited for the supervisor (this was at night). Lo and behold,
there was a
roll in the drawer at the service counter. Bank tellers aren't the only
ones who look
you in the face and lie. I can understand the attitude- we aren't paid more
for this
service, so we'll do what ever shuts you up and stops you from asking. And
if we
can convince enough people that nobody wants these coins, they will just go
away.
Sad.
Aram.

No. They have dispensers, but they have not updated the cassettes to dispense dollar
coins. Possibly when the one cent coin is eliminated they will do so.

--
"""Remove "zorch" from address (2 places) to reply.
http://www.sirius.com/


"Barney" wrote in message
...
"Fred Shecter" wrote in
:


Vons (the local Safeway) went through their coins in 1 to 2 days and
most are ordering more. Cashiers and customers *loved* them.

Do they have dispensers at the registers that give dollar coins as change?



Barney

"Bruce Remick" wrote
I can't fathom the frenzy over these president dollar coins, as if they're
only going to be available for a week or so before the next president
comes out. People rushing from bank to bank asking for rolls, bags, boxes
of these gems-- quick, before they're all gone. And all of this simply to
SPEND them? It seems like non-collectors are getting caught up in the
frenzy as well, perhaps thinking the coins are gold, valuable, different,
something to be saved although they don't know exactly why.

We've seen this all before with Ikes, SBA's and Sac's. The only thing
different now is the coin design, something that the average Joe never
takes into consideration when deciding what coins to spend.

Patience. There will be tons of president dollars available from banks,
the Mint, dealers, mouldy vaults. I doubt they will ever become part of
our mainstream pocket change, but if I'm wrong that won't be a bad thing.

Bruce

I'm just getting into collecting, so I am now paying much closer attention
to things that I can get for their actual face value. Yesterday I was
looking for wheat pennies, today I'm a collector, tomorrow I will be in a
frenzy.

Just kidding, but I think the press about new coins draws in new collectors,
or gets some people to help their kids start collecting. I know a lot of
people who never collected a coin before who started collecting the new
state quarters. My guess is because it had been such a long time since the
quarter was changed. My question is- why aren't people interested in
collecting the *old* quarter. :-)

In article , blue
wrote:

Just kidding, but I think the press about new coins draws in new collectors,
or gets some people to help their kids start collecting. I know a lot of
people who never collected a coin before who started collecting the new
state quarters. My guess is because it had been such a long time since the
quarter was changed. My question is- why aren't people interested in
collecting the *old* quarter. :-)

People hoard what's new, because it's unusual.

Of course, they often also hoard what's old, because they think it will
be rare (the reason wheat pennies mostly disappeared 3-4 decades back).

Of course, by this logic, they should be hoarding the old pre-state
quarters. They don't seem to, at least at any great rate. Why?

I suspect that it's because the state quarters are changing all the
time: 5 new designs every year, with over 40 out there in circulation.

Also, despite the increased mintages of quarters starting in 1999
(about 3 billion a year instead of 1.5), most quarters I've encountered
in change are still pre-state. Out of 199 I've gotten in change this
year so far, 118 (59.3%) are dated 1998 or earlier. (Yes, I keep
count. And, yes, I *do* need a life.)

The longrunning standard design of 1932-1998 probably discourages the
casual hoarding by people interested in quarters. If you hoard just 1
piece of each design, that comes to 41 state quarters (so far), but
just 1 pre-state, & perhaps 1 Bicentennial, if any are still out there
(I found one each from the P & D mints so far this year; 1% of the
total).

If anything, the fact that 1965-98 quarters are still dominating
circulation after over 8 years gives us an idea of the sheer amount of
casual hoarding of statehood quarters. I haven't kept tabs of mintage
figures to compare with my circulation finds, but if there's any great
difference between the proportions of pre-state & statehood quarters
minted vs. what is in circulation today, that would help us get a
notion of just how much hoarding is going on. (The Mint estimates that
140 million people "collect" statehood quarters. If these folks just
collect one specimen of each design, that means 700 million quarters
get sucked out of each year's mintage, perhaps something like 20% of
the total.)

I would venture to suggest that the people who start getting interested
in the pre-state quarters & begin getting into collecting the different
dates/mints of those have crossed the line from casual hoarding into
more serious collecting. That's what will affect the hobby in the long
term.

"Slime Lowlife" wrote in message
.biz...

If anything, the fact that 1965-98 quarters are still dominating
circulation after over 8 years gives us an idea of the sheer amount of
casual hoarding of statehood quarters.

Each state quarter was only minted for 1/5th of a year whereas every year
between 65-98 was a whole year of the same design.

On Tue, 3 Apr 2007 07:22:47 -0500, "PC" wrote:


"Slime Lowlife" wrote in message
r.biz...

If anything, the fact that 1965-98 quarters are still dominating
circulation after over 8 years gives us an idea of the sheer amount of
casual hoarding of statehood quarters.

Each state quarter was only minted for 1/5th of a year whereas every year
between 65-98 was a whole year of the same design.

Actually, if you look at the numbers through 2006, state quarters
account for nearly 45% of all the clad quarters that have been struck.

When you add up the mintages, there were 36.8 billion struck
1965-1998, while since 1999 there have been about 29.6 billion
(numbers courtesy of the US mint web site, and the Red Book)

When take into account the loss that occurs over time, the SQ should
probably be in the majority.

take care,
Scott
Yes, I really built a spreadsheet to check the numbers...