1966 Washington Quarter - Fake or Real?

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Author: nort @ phila pa

I found a 1966 quarter that at first glance I thought might be made of silver. I put it away for years and forgot about it until I recently cleaned out a drawer. It looks like it is either made of steel or aluminum. Someone said something about a pattern coin??? To me it looks fake. My question is: what do I do to find out more information about this coin?

While there is a strong likelihood that this coin is something that was manufactured outside the Mint, there is the smallest possibility that the coin was struck on a planchet meant to be used for another country's coinage. We call them "Wrong Planchet" errors.

Another possibility is that the coin was tampered with and plated after it left the Mint. This is quite common.

The possibility of this coin being a pattern piece is practically zero. The Washington quarter was an established piece of U.S. coinage for 34 years by the time 1966 rolled around. There would be no need for a pattern coin to be struck.

Other extremely uncommon reasons for your coin to look the way it does is that it may have been struck on a silver planchet that remained at the Mint for some reason or the coin may have actually been struck over an older silver quarter. When a coin is double struck the first strike is often almost completely obliterated leaving only slight remnants of details of the underlying coin.

Of course there is no way to tell for sure whether or not your coin is an error or something somebody made at home unless it is seen by an expert.

If it is possible, you can email pictures of both sides of the coin to me at askaboutcoins@gmail.com or foundinrolls@netscape.net

It is often possible to get a good idea of what a coin like this is if I can see a picture.

Weighing the coin may help to determine if it is plated as a 1966 United States Quarter Dollar if struck on a normal copper-nickel clad planchet would weigh 5.67 grams. If it were struck on a silver planchet or overstruck on a previously struck quarter, it would weigh approximately 6.25 grams.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask by emailing askaboutcoins@gmail.com or foundinrolls@netscape.net

Thanks,

Bill

nort commented on 07 May 2008, 14:41:30
my 1966 quarter seems to be real by other people.We know that it is made of alluminun and feal that it is a wrong planchet error.my question is who would and how would I sell this.Thanks Nort