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Some Quarters Are Worth Thousands

quarters
U.S. quarter dollar coin, Wisconsin | Image by jodrum, Shutterstock

If inflation has you feeling blue because you can’t get as much bang for your buck, maybe you should turn to quarters.

Certain state quarters from Wisconsin could be worth up to $6,000.

The 50 State Quarters Program was launched by the U.S. Mint in 1999 to honor each state’s entrance into the Union or ratification of the Constitution. Ten years later, six more quarter designs were made for Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Wisconsin state quarters were issued on October 25, 2004. They highlighted agricultural aspects of the state by featuring the head of a cow, a wheel of cheese, and an ear of corn. The obverse and reverse inscriptions varied, as do all the state quarters.

Most Wisconsin state quarters cite the state’s motto “FORWARD” or “1848” for when it was admitted into the Union on the reverse side and the standard “LIBERTY” or “QUARTER DOLLAR” on the obverse side.

But apparently, Wisconsin state quarters stand out a bit from the rest. And coin collectors suggest that these slight differences could increase their overall value, according to the NY Post.

Some of the coins released in 2004 have an extra leaf on the corn husk. Sometimes the leaf points down and sometimes it points up, according to the Ohio-based Littleton Coin Company.

Whether the extra leaf was stamped accidentally or not at the U.S. Mint in Denver, where they were created, is unknown.

Regardless, some say that these errors make the coins way more valuable. The rarest one is the “high leaf” coin that points upward.

When the error coins were discovered in 2004, it created a rush of people looking for them, according to the Professional Coin Grading Service website.

“There were some reports that some individuals found up to hundreds of them at once from bank wrapped rolls, making it seem as if they were very easy to find,” Jaime Hernandez wrote.

Hernandez details the obsession showcased by some collectors in finding these rare coins with the high price tag. He wrote about hunting down the coins with his wife and three young children, stopping at every bank within a 75-mile radius.

“Many times I don’t remember what I had for lunch or dinner the day before,” he continued. “But, I do remember that weekend as if it was just yesterday, even if it was about 10 years ago.”

In January 2020, a Wisconsin “low leaf” quarter was sold at auction for a record $6,000, per the NY Post. Depending on the coin’s condition, most error coins go for a few hundred dollars or even a thousand or two.

Other errors appearing on some state quarters include “IN GOD WE RUST” on the Kansas coin and an extra tree on the Minnesota coin.

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2 Comments

  1. GomeznSA

    Pictures of the deviant coins so us mere mortals know what to look for would have been a nice touch,

    Reply
  2. ThisGuyisTom

    I remember the “great meltdown” which followed after LBJ started to dwindle the silver content in coins.
    People would get bags and bags of coins from places like toll booths and melt down the coins for the silver.
    There are some wild stories.
    Books were published on it.

    Reply

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