Spend (do not spend?) your 1975-76 Bicentennial quarters

Posted on by

New coin collectors schooled on social media, such as YouTube and TikTok, have seen dozens of videos claiming that these Bicentennial Quarters are rare and valuable, but can still be found in pocket change. In almost all cases, this is wrong, hyped and wastes hobbyist time. But there is still some incentive to keep searching.

These are the various types of Bicentennial Quarters.

  • 1975-76 Philadelphia business strike, 75% copper, 25% nickel with copper center. Diameter: 24.30 millimeters. Weight: 5.67 grams. Mintage: 809,784,016.
  • 1975-76 Denver business strike, 75% copper, 25% nickel with copper center. Diameter: 24.30 millimeters. Weight: 5.67 grams. Mintage: 860,118,839.
  • 1975-76 San Francisco business strike, 40% silver, 60% copper. Diameter: 24.30 millimeters. Weight: 5.75 grams. Mintage: 11,000,000.
  • 1975-76 San Francisco clad proof strike,  75% copper, 25% nickel over a pure copper center. Diameter: 24.30 millimeters. Weight: 5.67 grams. Mintage: 7,059,099.
  • 1975-76 San Francisco proof strike, 40% silver, 60% copper. Diameter: 24.30 millimeters. Weight: 5.75 grams. Mintage: 11,000,000.

Videos like this one, although mostly accurate, tend to exaggerate the extreme rarities (this one states the silver variety is 80% silver rather than 40%).

As you can see from mintages above, you’re apt only to find the clad Philadelphia and Denver clad business strikes, as there are more than 1.6 billion of these. Almost all of them in pocket change will be these, and because they are already circulated, they are typically only worth face value. True, some MS67+ and MS68 highest grade examples are worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars, but in all the years of grading, PCGS has only holdered 4 MS67+ and 1 MS68. An MS67 is only worth about $50, about the cost of grading.

You will have better luck finding a PR70 Clad or Silver Proof example, and they sell for about $100-160 in that top condition at Deep Cameo (heavily frosted). Hundreds of them are available graded by top holdering companies.

In other words, the hunt for extreme condition rarities will likely be fruitless, a waste of hobbyist time. That said, if you have time to waste, forget finding one of these rarities in pocket change. But it will be useful to inspect each Bicentennial Quarter to see if someone dumped a silver business or proof strike at the bank. Look at the edge. If you see no copper, you have a silver melt coin.

If you find any one of these minted on the wrong planchet, sure, you will have a valuable coin. There are other mint errors but these are even scarcer than top grade examples. In any case, keep diameter and weight in mind as you compare your error coin to the Mint standard.

Now for the question: Spend or not.?

Because people saved these Bicentennial Quarters, hoping they will be worth something some day, tens of thousands of such coins may be untouched in your or handed-down collections. Grading is expensive (see this post) so proceed with caution if you want to holder your seemingly flawless coin.

If you like posts like this, subscribe so you can be informed whenever there is a new article or column.

Proxiblog also has hundreds of followers on Facebook Coin Groups. To get the latest discussion and commentary, be sure to friend us by clicking here.

You can find more information about types, varieties, errors, grading, bidding and buying in Coin News Updated: The Essential Guide to Online Bidding. Please consider buying or gifting the work for a friend, as it underwrites this hobbyist blog. Thank you.