Expert: Ronald Fern - 1/18/2011

Question
I found a 1979 quarter without ridges and missing "In God We Trust" and mint stamp.  Is this an error or merely a tampered-with coin?

Answer
Hi Elizabeth:

Thanks for your question. Hard to say what you may have without a photo or more information. With odd or unusual coins, it is always best to provide as much information as possible or a photo when asking a question. Things like weight, thickness and diameter are important in trying to pinpoint what you may have. If you want to ask a follow-up question and provide a photo or more date, I'll revise my answer, if required.

You may have what is called a quarter stock dime. It is the opposite of the better known dime stock quarter. The "common" date was the 1970D, with thousands showing up in circulation. At one time, I had a roll of circulated dime stock quarters. In both cases, the wrong stock was picked out for the planchet blanking process. The mint used to manufacture their own planchets. That job is now done outside the mint facilities by private vendors.

Dime stock quarters showed up in circulation, and would be refused in vending machines as too light. The quarter stock dimes were too "fat" to fit in the vending machine slots. They are usually well struck, because the coin striking equipment was set to the correct thickness, and thicker planchet blanks were intermingled with the normal ones. I believe I had several quarter stock dimes, a 1968D and 1969D, many years ago.

As far as value, they sold for about $75 in the early 1980's. The error market has since exploded. My guess would be that this error could bring $200 to $350 to and interested collector.

Here is a "Numismatic News" article on related errors: http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/Kennedy_struck_on_quarter_stock/

Here are two sites to check error values:
http://www.coinsite.com/html/userrorprices.asp
http://minterrornews.com/priceguide.html

Your coin could also have been altered by someone outside the mint. Altered coins would have no added numismatic value.

Sometimes people try and fool you into thinking you have a real error coin. Here are some examples of coins either being altered or damaged.
See link: http://coinauctionshelp.com/page15.html
See link: http://conecaonline.org/content/OhNo.htm

You may want to check US coins and currency listings under errors on eBay from time to time to see if your coin is listed what this type of item may bring.

If you live close to a local shop, they should offer an opinion as to the value at no charge. Always try and get at least two opinions and try and deal with PNG dealers if possible. If you should decide to sell your items to a dealer, remember they will offer about 50% to 60% of the retail value. Here's a link to find one in your area: http://www.pngdealers.com/dealersearch.php

Please remember to go to the experts site to rate this answer. Check the nomination box on the rating page below any comments you may have.

Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.