The Washington Quarter, in many respects, is the most popular US coin that is a great find for collectors, but also still being produced today. First minted in the early parts of the 20th century, the Washington Quarter took the US by storm and entirely revolutionized the way in which Americans conducted business. Nowadays, collectors scramble to get early editions of the coin in an effort to put together a complete collection.
For collectors, the difficult task is not finding the 1951 Washington Quarter, but rather finding it in decent shape. These coins are quite old and, during their existence, were subjected to a lot of wear and tear.
When it comes to the Washington Quarter, the first thing any collector will look at is the condition the coin is in. Being more than 50 years old, these coins have been through extensive circulation and have been subjected to a lot of damage during that time. Naturally, only the best coins will do for collectors, so it is no wonder they pay especially close attention to any and all imperfections.
In a perfect world, every collector would have their coins graded by a professional company, but that is not always an option. Because of this, we have created a quick outline that better explains the different coin grades and what conditions constitute that grade.
Uncirculated: An Uncirculated coin is one that never spent any time exchanging hands on the open market. These coins have been preserved from the day they were minted and look the part. Collectors will pay exorbitant prices to get their hands on coins that are graded as being Uncirculated.
Extremely Fine: The grade of Extremely Fine is reserved for coins that have spent almost no time whatsoever being circulated. Though they will appear to be pristine on occasion, under closer inspection you will see that these coins have plenty of imperfections from their time in circulation. With all of this being said, however, collectors still love to get their hands on these fine pieces.
Fine: Fine may sound like a poor grade, but in all reality it is describing coins that are in fairly good shape, especially if you consider how long some of them were in circulation for. Plenty of noticeable scratching will be able to be seen, and the texture of the coin will have been smoothed a bit, but these coins are still excellent to add to any new or preexisting collection.
Good: This grade is given to coins that have been very heavily circulated and have also been quite heavily damaged during that time. The imperfections on these coins will be more dramatic than on any of the higher graded coins, and the imagery might even be a bit difficult to make out. All in all, these are naturally some of the most affordable of the graded coins.
When it comes to assigning a price to the 1951 Washington Quarter, there are a few key factors one must pay attention to. For one, the coin’s condition means just about everything to the average collector. This means that those well-preserved Quarters are almost always going to be the ones selling for the highest prices. Another thing you must take into consideration is the fact that multiple types of Quarters were minted every year, meaning that the exact type of coin you have will also play into the price asked for it. The chart below is aimed at helping you better understand how much you might be asked to pay for a 1951 Washington Quarter given its type and condition.
1951 Washington Quarter
DATE | GOOD | FINE | EXTREMELY FINE | UNCIRCULATED |
---|---|---|---|---|
1951 Washington Quarter | N/A | N/A | $7 | $8 |
1951 Washington Quarter (D) | N/A | N/A | $7 | $8 |
1951 Washington Quarter (S) | N/A | N/A | $7.50 | $8 | Source: Red Book |