1913-S 25C MS 67

Description

One of the great 20th Century key dates!! We’ve recently wrote about the post-World War-II coin collecting boom. After the economic drought of the Great Depression and World-War II, there was a coin collecting boom as the economy got good, and there was a dramatic increase in leisure time and discretionary income. Also, at the time, it was possible to build a coin collection from coins you could find in circulation and several hundred thousand people (the peak circulation number for the weekly Coin World newspaper was 165,000) looked thru their change to build collections and frequented the local coin shops that appeared in nearly every city in our country. There were certain coins that were very difficult to find….and these were usually the lowest mintage coins in the various series.….the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent, 1916-D Mercury dime, and t932-D and 1932-S Washington quarters. Actually, “difficult to find” is a dramatic understatement. We were young collectors at the time, searching for these coins…we can tell you from personal experience that these coins were basically impossible to find in circulation. If you wanted them for your collection, you had to go to a coin shop (dealer) and buy them. These coins are considered the 20th Century GOATS (Greatest of all-time, like in sports). Notice that the post-War GOAT concept revolved around original mintages. It was a coin market obsession. There were even books and newsletters written comparing mintages and touting low mintage very recent issues such as the 1950-D Jefferson nickel and 1955-D Washington quarter as" investments for the future” As it turned out, original mintage wasn’t the most important factor. It Was demand and actual rarity. Survival rates were the ultimate arbitrator. Still, mintages and old ideas remained important and the Post-War GOATS remained high demand, important and actually famous coins. And their prices increased year after year after year…in all grades!! For the 1892 to 1916 Barber quarters, the three ultra-low mintage, big time GOATS are the 1896-S, 1901-S, and 1913-S. To give you an idea of their market importance, in the lowest, worn and nearly devoid of all details condition, the 1901-S quarter brings over $3000, while a more common date goes for about $15. This is an incredible Gem Uncirculated 1913-S. This 1913-S is a Near Perfect Gem Uncirculated MS67….with ultra clean, mark-free surfaces, a super bold strike, and intensely flashy pure white luster. In 38 years, PCGS has graded 1647 1913-S quarters… of those, only three specimens have been graded MS67, with just three higher, two graded MS67+, and one MS68. The MS68 sold in 2005 for $172,