Junk silver finds - Could this abused Seated .25 be worth much? 1 1

[AdamWL]

About 2 weeks ago I stopped in to my nearest coin store, which is 40 miles away. He said business had been crazy and he'd just thrown together the last of his junk silver. 1 roll of halves and 2 rolls of quarters. We chatted a little and I bought a roll of halves, which he said were all Walkers and left. The wheels in my head were spinning though and I had enough extra cash for another roll, so I went back and got a roll of quarters.

I ended up finding some things other than Walkers and Washingtons, pictured here:

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by AdamWL

[AdamWL]

And now for the question.

I feel 99.9% sure this coin is an 1856-S. A quick glance at my Redbook shows me it's not exactly the most common date. Starts at $300 in G4 - I know my 2023 Redbook isn't exactly the best way to price a coin, but the point remains. Would any collector even want to pay for it in this condition?

 

[Sandon]

   There's a market for everything, but obviously a serious traditional collector wouldn't be interested in coins this worn and/or damaged. A young or beginning collector might pay something for the 1856-S quarter--I think you're right that the date is 1856--but only a small fraction of its value in undamaged Good. You could ask for, say, $20. Someone involved in the irrational "low ball set" fad might be interested in the 1914 Barber quarter, which appears to be undamaged. (As I understand it, qualifying "low ball" coins are supposed to be in Poor to Fair condition and identifiable as to date and mint, but undamaged.)

[samclemen3991]

If it were my find I would just keep it.  Kind of neat to have a rarer date that has done his duty.  but that is just me.

[RWB]

Ebay is a good venue for the two coins mentioned. Bidders are mostly simpletons who overpay for a "story" or suggestion of something unusual like a "low ball" set candidate.

[J P M]

What I hate is I see lots of coins with knife marks. I have heard of mean old collector's putting the X on saying that one is no good. Now days people collect those coins that were no good.

Edited March 29, 2023 by J P M

[zadok]

...ur '56-S qrt is collectible...the grade is not a problem but the damage is...as far as a "low ball" coin it probably wont qualify, those coins r Po-1 or Fr-2 which means they r certified, it is questionable whether ur coin would even certify n if it did it would certainly be a details coin most likely without an assigned grade...but there r many album collectors that would buy the coin as just a "hole filler" u could conceivably get $40-$60 from such a collector....

[Coinbuf]

Damaged coins are always very difficult to value because a coin like this has a different value to each collector and varies greatly with his/her goal or want for such a coin.   This is a good coin for a budget collector that wants that better (key) date coin but doesn't have the wallet to buy an undamaged example.   I certainly would not send it to a TPG as it will really have the greatest appeal to an album collector, imo.

[AdamWL]

Thanks for the insight and opinions guys.

I'll probably enjoy it for a while before I let it go. It is a pretty cool/lucky find for me.

[jtryka]

It's always fun to find seated stuff as junk silver (this was quite common in the 1980 silver boom) but not so much any more.  My local dealer is a friend so he likes to save interesting stuff for me, knowing I hoard Canadian, he saves the 80% for me which occasionally includes a Victoria piece, and on junk US he divides up the Barbers with me and another good customer, but a few weeks ago he sold me two seated dime (common and worn like yours) and an 1853 arrows and rays in about the same grade as yours.  Fun to get such coins for melt!