Collectors Corner^SM: The Collectibles Marketplace

1966 Washington Quarter struck on 90% silver planchet, PCGS AU53. Click image to enlarge.

I remember attending the South Hills Coin Club Show at the Crowne Plaza in South Hills, Pennsylvania, during 2012. At that time, I was an independent coin dealer and this hotel is located right across the street from the South Hills Village Mall, which I frequented as a kid. My goal for the show was to find nice-looking world coins to place into inventory, as I knew very little about United States coinage.

I asked one of the dealers at the show if he had any world coins, and he replied, “No, not here, but we have a whole bunch at the shop – and my name is Jon Walker.” I introduced myself, as I approached the dealer at his booth, operating under the banner “Treasure Hunt.”

I said, “I’ve been to your store before and the folks mentioned they don’t carry world coins.” Jon replied, “Well, I’m currently the numismatics manager. We have a new location, and we have plenty of world coins. Come down and see me.” I thanked him and soon became a fixture at his location.

Jon manages the numismatics department for 11 stores in Pennsylvania. Treasure Hunt buys and sells gold, silver, and jewelry as well. Ironically, his boss is named John as well, he is just as congenial as Jon Walker, and so is Jeannette. I left Pittsburgh in 2017, but I had bought many coins over the years from Jon. We have kept in touch and chat at random intervals when possible. I’ve been over to Jon’s home for dinner multiple times. On one occasion at dinner, we ate ghost peppers and scorpion peppers, because we enjoy eating hot peppers. Jon’s wife, Megan, might have thought, “why are you guys torturing your taste buds?” One day in late September 2025, Jon called me and reported, “PCGS recently certified a coin that I took a look at and submitted.” He shared the certificate number with me, I entered it, and the image popped up. I said, “Cool, a silver 1966 Washington Quarter.”

Jon replied, “I think it’s unique.”

I was busy with some work at the time. “Let me give you a call back,” I replied. He then sent me a few texts with more information about when the U.S. Mint transitioned from striking 90% silver coins to debased coinage made in copper-nickel clad in 1965.

I called Jon back and asked if he would agree to an interview about his recent find, and he obliged…

Sanjay: Do you remember the call you made to me on September 28, 2025?

Jon: Yeah...

Sanjay: I had to think for a second and then you sent me the certificate for the coin. Then it dawned on me what you sent. Wow. I’ve never seen one of these.

1965 Roosevelt Dime struck on 90% silver, PCGS AU58. Click image to enlarge.

Jon: Ha, neither have I! As you and I both know, the United States Mint supposedly stopped striking 90% silver content coins in 1964 (The United States was going off of the silver standard for coinage based on the 1965 Coinage Act). However, the Mint was still striking 90% silver quarters and dimes dated 1964 in 1965 and 1966 concurrently with the newly issued clad coinage. Clad coinage consists of two different non-precious metals bonded together and in this case it was copper and copper-nickel. These two denominations were struck when the Kennedy half dollar was being struck in 40% silver which is referred to as silver-clad.

Sanjay: You mentioned the 1964 silver quarter was a frozen date?

Jon: Yes, from my research, the 1964-dated silver quarter was struck in 1964, 1965, and 1966. The U.S. Mint [facilities] still had a whole bunch of 1964 silver planchets. They were still trying to make sure there was enough change that was circulating. There was fear that the public would pull all the silver coinage out of circulation, which would make dimes, quarters, and half dollars scarce.

Sanjay: Got it.

Jon: There were no mintmarks on coinage from 1965, 1966, and 1967. No P, D, or S mintmarks exist on coins from those years as identifiers [to determine what mint facility struck them].

Sanjay: The U.S. Mint was afraid they were going to run out of silver quarters?

Jon: No, they feared they were going to run out of clad quarters.

Sanjay: So the U.S. Mint was sitting on a supply of unused silver blanks?

Jon: I’m not certain, but I haven’t read anything that mentions the U.S. Mint’s purchasing silver stock when they transitioned into clad coinage. You could use a freedom of information request to get specifics though.

Sanjay: So, from what you noted, additional silver quarters dated 1964 were struck when clad coinage was struck as well to keep an ample supply of coinage circulating?

Jon: Correct, the United States government wanted the transition from silver coinage to clad coinage to be smooth. Keep in mind that 1964 was a frozen date for the silver dimes and quarters that were struck in 1965 and 1966.

Sanjay: There are examples of 1965 quarters struck in silver. (On July 5, 2022, a PCGS XF45 1965 90% silver Washington Quarter was sold for $9,300 by Heritage Auctions.)

Jon: That is correct – whether it’s a dozen or two I’m not certain. There are also 1965 dimes struck in silver. (On September 16, 2024, a PCGS AU58 90% silver 1965 Roosevelt Dime fetched $9,000 by Heritage Auctions.)

1965 Washington Quarter struck on 90% silver planchet, PCGS XF45 / Courtesy of Heritage Auctions, www.HA.com. Click image to enlarge.

Sanjay: Interesting! I didn’t know that.

Jon: Supposedly there is one 1966 dime struck in silver, but I have not seen an auction record to date. Maybe it’s just an urban legend.

Sanjay: But you found a 1966 silver Washington Quarter.

Jon: That’s right.

Sanjay: So, you were looking through a bag of 90% silver coins that was brought to you over the counter. Correct?

Jon: We buy 90% silver coins from customers that bring in bags, we count them, and pay them for the silver content. The sorting of the actual coins is done at a later time. Generally, there is no time that day or week to sort through the coins. Usually there are no valuable coins to be found as they have been picked through for the better dates. I’ll pull out better dates but, usually, there are none to find.

Sanjay: A majority of these coins are to be melted or smelted. They are sent to the refiner?

Jon: These 90% silver coins are sent to refineries that turn them into bullion. I look through 90% silver coins because I collect varieties. From 1956 through 1964, you can find quarters from the Philadelphia Mint with a Type B reverse which were used for “proof” coins only.

Sanjay: Ok. I follow you.

PCGS AU53 1966 25 Cents Struck on Silver Planchet. Click image to enlarge.

[Prior to this conversation, Jon sent me a text reading, “Washington Quarters Reverse Design Varieties (RDV) From A to H and beyond. Presented by Miguel Gallego Heartland Coin Club. This correspondence was from the California State Numismatic Association (CSNA), 48th Annual Northern California Educational Symposium Van Nuys, CA April 23, 2016.” I had scanned over the document, which covers an extensive amount of varieties for quarters. It’s an interesting read to say the least, and I learned quite a bit about varieties.]

Jon: Additionally, you can find the 1964 Denver, “D” [strike] with a Type C reverse, which is a 1965 reverse. Apparently, a quarter of 1% of the 1964-D mintmark [quarters] that were struck had the Type C Reverse. Which is the same as the 1965 reverse of the quarter.

[Jon sent me an additional text; it has two screenshots about multiple reverses on the quarters. Then, he followed with some information from the late coin expert David W. Lange who wrote an article titled “The Anonymous Coins of 1965- 1967.” I had taken a quick glance at it before this phone call.]

Sanjay: So there were four reverse varieties that were used for the 1964 quarter?

Jon: No. Three, Type A, which is standard; Type B, which has strengthened tail feathers; and for the Denver Mint there is Type C, which has further-strengthened tail feathers and is more detailed. That’s the easiest way to describe the different reverses without pictures.

Sanjay: As you mentioned earlier, you collect different reverse varieties of the quarter. How did you recognize the 1966 silver quarter?

Jon: I found this one as I was going through the coins. I spotted a 1964-D quarter with Type C reverse, which is a fairly valuable coin. It’s a low-mintage coin and worth between $150 to $200 if they are in PCGS MS63+ grade. The reverse is strikingly different as you learn the intricacies of each type. As I was going through a bag, I spotted a Type C reverse and immediately noticed it wasn’t the “D” mintmark.

Sanjay: Go on...

Jon: My first instinct was that, sometimes, copper-nickel coins get missed in the 90% silver coins when we buy them. Lo and behold, when I flipped it over it was 1966.

Sanjay: What was your initial reaction?

Jon: Uuhhhhhhhhh… Bit of a shock… Disbelief! The 1965 silver quarter, I could understand finding one from a left over planchet from 1964. But a 1966 silver quarter doesn’t make sense unless you read the information I texted over to you from David W. Lange.

[From earlier screenshots I received, Lange in this work notes that “The San Francisco Assay Office, deactivated as a coining facility in 1955, was refitted with equipment to produce planchets in 1964 and actually resumed coin production the following year. It struck more than 15 million 1964 silver quarters in 1965 and another 4,640,865 early in 1966, all, of course, without mintmarks.”]

Sanjay: How do you think this 1966 90% silver quarter got minted?

Jon: Without obviously being at the Mint at the time, I surmise that a canvas tote or bin that the Mint facilities used to transport blanks to the planchet machine was the source.

1964-D Washington Quarter, Type C Reverse. Click image to enlarge.

Sanjay: Are those the bins that are on rollers or casters that I’ve seen in vintage photos?

Jon: Yes, the canvas bins are bolted to a wooden cart. They are fairly large and can hold lots of blanks. Those bins have nooks, crannies, and folds that planchets could get stuck within at times. Normally this doesn’t matter. But when you have transition years, it could. Take, for example, the 1943 zinc-plated steel cents. Copper blanks from 1942 could have conceivably been stuck in the cart and shifted free. The same type of logic could have played out with the 1965 or 1966 silver quarters and dimes that have been found.

Sanjay: This type of transition from one metal to another has unknowingly created rarities.

Jon: Yes, if the cart was reused for silver production from 1964, possibly somebody grabbed that and dumped copper-nickel planchets into it in 1966. That cart may have had a silver blank within the cart that was stuck somewhere and it got minted.

Sanjay: Reusing carts would seem to be normal practice within the Mint.

Jon: Yeah, it’s part of just moving material around. It’s never a problem because the composition of the coin generally doesn’t change frequently.

Sanjay: Unless you have transitional years. In this case it’s a span of three years.

Jon: Presumably, my best guess is that the Mint had a couple of presses minting the 1964 silver quarters, and other presses minting the 1966 copper-nickel quarters. There was probably a rule in place that certain carts were designated for silver blanks and certain carts were only [for] clad or copper-nickel blanks. Maybe someone grabbed the wrong one at the wrong time. It’s been fun finding varieties so far. This one kind of blew me out of the water. This wasn’t your standard variety.

Sanjay: Would you say the 1966 90% silver quarter is the coolest variety you have ever found?

Jon: From the research I have done as far back as I could go, this is the only 1966-dated 90% silver quarter that I’ve found any evidence of being in existence. It’s certainly the rarest – and most likely unique – variety that I’ve found to date.

Sanjay: I hope you find another one.

Jon: Lol, I hope so, too!