Cross-Section of US Quarters in Circulation (Part 1 of 4)

[astrostu]

I did this back in 2007 when I sorted through boxes of each circulating denomination, so I thought I'd do it again. From a box of quarters:

 

 

pre-1965: 0.00%

1965-1969: 3.94%

1970-1979: 7.14%

1980-1989: 12.08%

1990-1999: 25.05%

2000-2009: 51.80%

 

Of perhaps some interest:

1976: 0.65%

1999: 4.54%

2000: 7.78%

2001: 5.84%

2002: 3.94%

2003: 2.69%

2004: 2.69%

2005: 6.59%

2006: 8.68%

2007: 5.64%

2008: 7.63%

2009: 0.30% (They were all DC, D, as I'm 20 miles from the Denver mint.)

 

 

According to my post about 2 years ago, this is what the distribution was back in 2007:

 

pre-1965: 0.00%

1965-1969: 3.25%

1970-1979: 4.98%

1980-1989: 12.36%

1990-1999: 25.76%

2000-2006: 53.65%

 

Of perhaps some interest:

1976: 0.49%

1999: 4.83%

2000: 7.00%

2001: 4.88%

2002: 4.68%

2003: 3.15%

2004: 3.20%

2005: 13.50%

2006: 17.24%

2007-present: 0.00%

 

 

I think it's kinda interesting, actually, how stable some of those numbers are. Update: I created the two graphs below to show the results. The error bars are based solely upon counting statistics within the sample, and they do not reflect the uncertainty in estimating general circulation results from 1 box of quarters.

 

 

[physics-fan3.14]

How big was the search sample, astro?

[astrostu]

How big was the search sample, astro?

 

Both times it was one box, 2000 quarters (though my totals on each came to 2004 and 2030 this time and last time, respectively).

[RWB]

Similar coin counts done in the 1930s give us and idea a which scarce pieces were actually circulating, and the difficulty of collecting certain coins from circulation.

 

Interesting now, but more interesting a generation from now. How will they find your research?

[astrostu]

Similar coin counts done in the 1930s give us and idea a which scarce pieces were actually circulating, and the difficulty of collecting certain coins from circulation.

 

Interesting now, but more interesting a generation from now. How will they find your research?

 

No clue. I may keep posting here ... I say I do this thing ~2-3x/year, but it's turned into more like once every 2-3 years. I'll at least know it exists.

[JIM F.]

What I find as interesting is the 1965-1979 quarters increasing as a percentage circulating. There are many obvious reasons one can think of for this. If I think of it, I will get a 2000 coin sample from my bank next week, and post my results.

 

 

[TomB]

I had seen this thread on the PCGS boards first, so I posted this there, too. I have done similar counts and shared them via email with cladking in the past, but I don't know that I have posted them on the boards. In my case I have three populations. I saved all the quarters I received in change from 4/05 through 10/06 for one pool (2727-coins), counted the quarters from a bank box for a second pool (2000-coins) and saved all the quarters I received in change from 10/06 through 12/07 as well as the counted quarters from a bank box for a third pool (4089-coins). This is what I obtained-

 

1965-1969

6.0%

5.2%

5.8%

 

1970-1979

8.6%

8.8%

8.7%

 

1980-1989

19.9%

21.9%

20.5%

 

1990-1998

28.6%

26.6%

28.0%

 

1999-

36.9%

38.0%

37.0%