Conspiracy Theory: Wisconsin Quarters

Call me crazy, but the coincidence here is just a little too much for
me. Consider...

1) Interest in the state quarter program is dropping, and the mint isn't
seeing the hoarding they want.

2) The first rotated die is found.

3) The first (and second) recognized variety is found.


I just find it hard to believe that quality control would take such a
tumble all of the sudden with the Wisconsin quarter. It seems to me that
the mint realized that a few scattered rarities would drive sales much
better, and made sure that they started appearing. I know that I have seen
posts in here of people talking about buying bags of Wisconsin quarters
they wouldn't have otherwise.

What do you think?


- Andrew W Applegarth

Andrew W Applegarth wrote:

What do you think?

The real question is, when will the black helicopters show up?

And remember, shiny-side out on your aluminum-foil hat (in a triangle
shape, of course!).

John
'yes, I am paranoid'

There have been numerous rotated dies in this series.

It's really rather remarkable that there have been no varieties to date
when you consider the short lead times and production runs for these
coins. There were lots of varieties in the older clad quarters, and
dies weren't even always changed yearly.

I bit,1000 coin bag, no errors.Got some nice looking uncirculated coins though.

I know that I have seen
posts in here of people talking about buying bags of Wisconsin quarters
they wouldn't have otherwise.

What do you think?

"Andrew W Applegarth" wrote in message
.. .

Call me crazy, but the coincidence here is just a little too much for
me. Consider...

1) Interest in the state quarter program is dropping, and the mint isn't
seeing the hoarding they want.

And you know The Mint isn't seeing the hoarding they want because.. ??..

Remember the coins of 1965-1967 all had no mintmarks because of hoarding,
although that was for a different reason, they purposely removed the mint
marks for those three years..

2) The first rotated die is found.

Yeah, back in 1999. There were Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut
rotated die quarters and others.. this isn't something new..

3) The first (and second) recognized variety is found.

It either was or wasn't going to happen sooner or later. It happened mid-way
through.. why or how it happened has yet to be proven or even admitted.. how
long did it take The Mint to admit to the Brass Buck mules??..


I just find it hard to believe that quality control would take such a
tumble all of the sudden with the Wisconsin quarter. It seems to me that
the mint realized that a few scattered rarities would drive sales much
better, and made sure that they started appearing. I know that I have
seen
posts in here of people talking about buying bags of Wisconsin quarters
they wouldn't have otherwise.

What do you think?


You shouldn't find it surprising that some folks will pay a small premium
for a bag of quarters on the chance that there are coins inside that are
worth a hundred or two hundred bucks apiece.. and probably will be worth
multiples more, if no full roll or bag quantities are discovered, which they
haven't been (yet).. Did you go out of your way to buy any Brass Bucks from
The Mint on the off-chance that a $50,000.00 mule could be lurking in a
roll or in a bag??.. Did you ever decide to buy a few Lottery tickets when
the jackpot hadn't been hit for weeks and grew to huge proportions??.. Do
you or anyone you know own a metal detector??.. Ever comb through the bins
at a used record store looking for rarities??.. Everyone loves to find
treasure.. this is just the latest example.

Whether or not one chooses to believe these Wisconsin varieties were made on
purpose to stimulate sales is one's personal decision..

Harv

On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:30:24 GMT, "Harv" wrote:


"Andrew W Applegarth" wrote in message
. ..

Call me crazy, but the coincidence here is just a little too much for
me. Consider...

1) Interest in the state quarter program is dropping, and the mint isn't
seeing the hoarding they want.

And you know The Mint isn't seeing the hoarding they want because.. ??..

Remember the coins of 1965-1967 all had no mintmarks because of hoarding,
although that was for a different reason, they purposely removed the mint
marks for those three years..

2) The first rotated die is found.

Yeah, back in 1999. There were Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut
rotated die quarters and others.. this isn't something new..

3) The first (and second) recognized variety is found.

It either was or wasn't going to happen sooner or later. It happened mid-way
through.. why or how it happened has yet to be proven or even admitted.. how
long did it take The Mint to admit to the Brass Buck mules??..


I just find it hard to believe that quality control would take such a
tumble all of the sudden with the Wisconsin quarter. It seems to me that
the mint realized that a few scattered rarities would drive sales much
better, and made sure that they started appearing. I know that I have
seen
posts in here of people talking about buying bags of Wisconsin quarters
they wouldn't have otherwise.

What do you think?


You shouldn't find it surprising that some folks will pay a small premium
for a bag of quarters on the chance that there are coins inside that are
worth a hundred or two hundred bucks apiece.. and probably will be worth
multiples more, if no full roll or bag quantities are discovered, which they
haven't been (yet).. Did you go out of your way to buy any Brass Bucks from
The Mint on the off-chance that a $50,000.00 mule could be lurking in a
roll or in a bag??.. Did you ever decide to buy a few Lottery tickets when
the jackpot hadn't been hit for weeks and grew to huge proportions??.. Do
you or anyone you know own a metal detector??.. Ever comb through the bins
at a used record store looking for rarities??.. Everyone loves to find
treasure.. this is just the latest example.

Whether or not one chooses to believe these Wisconsin varieties were made on
purpose to stimulate sales is one's personal decision..

Harv




Harv,
I'm still thinking there may be something fishy going on with the
quarters. I didn't buy a bag of them because I couldn't talk my
daughter into going through them to look for the variety.
But, with the mule, I bought a few bags looking for those. I also ran
out all the change in the post office machines by putting in a 20,
buying a stamp and getting back the change. After I looked through
the change I recycled it back through the machine and didn't find a
darn thing but it was fun looking and there was excitement in the
chase.
I also buy lottery tickets when the pot gets really big and shoot,
last week a family here in Georgia hit for 130 million but they took
the cash option and ended up with about 70 million but I could live
with that.
I have a metal detector but I don't spend much time with it. I'm
chair bound and have been for a couple of weeks since I fell and broke
my leg (one of the dangers of being a really BIG boy and falling and
landing on your own leg). But, I digress. Every coin I've found with
my detector has been a treat. I get as excited when I dig up an
expended cartridge case as I do when a silver quarter comes out of the
ground and every signal always says "big bucks" to me. Again, the
excitement of the chase.
But, back to my original concern, that so few of these have been found
and they are concentrated in one area and it just keeps giving me the
feeling the mules did. But, if I had someone to look through a ton of
the quarters for me I'd jump on it in a second.
Happy hunting and I don't look through the record bins for old albums
because I was out of the country from 1970 to 1992 and the military
radio stations didn't normally play a lot of the better stuff.
Keep smiling, keep collecting and be careful if you walk outside (sent
from the frozen confines of Douglasville, Georgia).
Cliff

In article ,
"John Patrick" wrote:

And remember, shiny-side out on your aluminum-foil hat (in a triangle
shape, of course!).

Shiney side OUT?

Oh, well, that would explain the problem then. (Fifth day in a row my
voices have told me to stay home from work to clean my guns.)

"Harv" wrote in
:


"Andrew W Applegarth" wrote in message
.. .

Call me crazy, but the coincidence here is just a little too much
for
me. Consider...

1) Interest in the state quarter program is dropping, and the mint
isn't seeing the hoarding they want.

And you know The Mint isn't seeing the hoarding they want because..
??..


...there are still enough left to circulate...


Remember the coins of 1965-1967 all had no mintmarks because of
hoarding, although that was for a different reason, they purposely
removed the mint marks for those three years..


Sure, they tried to stop hoarding after the change from silver to clad
coinage. The new coins may have had the same face value, but they sure
didn't have the same bullion value. The government stood to make more
money by having the silver 'circulate' and get filtered out by them, then
by having the population keep it. Also, when coin production is based on
a thirty year life cycle, having every silver coin pulled during the
first year of clad production can't help but result in a change shortage.
Add to that a large number of people pulling 'first year' examples of the
clad coins and you have a big problem.

The issuing of state quarters didn't pose this problem because the
mint made sure to promote the new quarters as the collectible, not the
old series that was already circulating. The mint never even tried to
hide that they were hoping to 'make money' through the collectibility of
the new quarters. There have been some quotes pointed out (here?) where
the mint made it very clear that was there intentions.


2) The first rotated die is found.

Yeah, back in 1999. There were Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut
rotated die quarters and others.. this isn't something new..


That's what I get for believing what I read and not researching it
myself. I read in a couple of places that this was the first rotated die
in the state quarter series and ran with it... Oops!


3) The first (and second) recognized variety is found.

It either was or wasn't going to happen sooner or later. It happened
mid-way through.. why or how it happened has yet to be proven or even
admitted.. how long did it take The Mint to admit to the Brass Buck
mules??..


Sure, it was going to happen. And a single variety by itself isn't
that big of news. Throw in a second variety and a rotated die, and the
Wisconsin quarter suddenly stands out.



I just find it hard to believe that quality control would take
such a
tumble all of the sudden with the Wisconsin quarter. It seems to me
that the mint realized that a few scattered rarities would drive
sales much better, and made sure that they started appearing. I know
that I have
seen
posts in here of people talking about buying bags of Wisconsin
quarters they wouldn't have otherwise.

What do you think?


You shouldn't find it surprising that some folks will pay a small
premium for a bag of quarters on the chance that there are coins
inside that are worth a hundred or two hundred bucks apiece.. and
probably will be worth multiples more, if no full roll or bag
quantities are discovered, which they haven't been (yet).. Did you go
out of your way to buy any Brass Bucks from The Mint on the off-chance
that a $50,000.00 mule could be lurking in a roll or in a bag??..
Did you ever decide to buy a few Lottery tickets when the jackpot
hadn't been hit for weeks and grew to huge proportions??.. Do you or
anyone you know own a metal detector??.. Ever comb through the bins
at a used record store looking for rarities??.. Everyone loves to find
treasure.. this is just the latest example.


I don't find it surprising, and my point is that I don't think the
mint finds it surprising either. Do you think the mint sold more bags of
quarters (or sold the same number much quicker) as a result of the die
varieties? If not, I must say it seems out of line with the other
comments I have read, but I have no hard facts. If you agree, then I'm
sure you see the mint's possible gains by creating such a 'mistake'.

No, I didn't buy any brass bucks from the mint on that chance or
otherwise. The only bags I ever buy are for face value from the bank as
they come off of the coin sorter. Yes, I have bought (more) lottery
tickets when the lottery jackpot has gotten really high. On a similar
note, I believe that the lottery changed their rules a while back to a
higher starting pot and more numbers to increase the time between jackpot
wins. Why? Because they realized that those bigger jackpots sold more
tickets, to the extent that it more than compensated for handing out
(fewer but) bigger jackpots. In my opinion, this would support the
possibility that the mint would likewise try to increase the desiribility
of their product through intentional 'mistakes'.

I don't know how many you might have seen, but I've seen a a lot of
places that advertise that, for a small fee, you can pan for gold or wash
a bag of dirty stones looking for semi-precious jewels. They salt the
'mine' to make sure that a few people find something really nice to draw
in all of the ones who don't (and thus pay the bills). It's a common
practice that the comic book industry killed itself on. It seemed like
every time you turned around, some comic was released with a hologram
cover, a foil cover, an etched cover, and a plain newsstand cover. The
plan backfired and the comic industry will probably never hit it's
previous glory days again. (Speaking of which, is anybody interested in
a set with all five variations of the X-Men #1 cover?)

The mint could have decided to add varieties to the state quarter
series (besides the proof, silver, etc that they already do). What if
they would have done three designs for each state? I bet it wouldn't
create near the sensation that a few 'accidental' varieties does.


Whether or not one chooses to believe these Wisconsin varieties were
made on purpose to stimulate sales is one's personal decision..

Harv

Precisely! The whole point of my post was to hear what other people
thought led to their existence. I didn't intend to tell people what
happened, but start a dialog and see what people say.


- Andrew W Applegarth

(...and apparently, it's working...)

"Andrew W Applegarth" wrote in message
.. .

I don't find it surprising, and my point is that I don't think the
mint finds it surprising either. Do you think the mint sold more bags of
quarters (or sold the same number much quicker) as a result of the die
varieties? If not, I must say it seems out of line with the other
comments I have read, but I have no hard facts. If you agree, then I'm
sure you see the mint's possible gains by creating such a 'mistake'.


I'm seeing some eBay sellers, who are either uneducated, undereducated, or
just putting a few extra coats of Turtle Wax on their hype talking about how
the roll pairs and bags of Wisconsin quarters are sold out at The Mint..

Well sure they're sold out. They sell each State quarter, as most of us
know, for ten weeks, and then mark that State "product is not available" as
soon as they start selling the next one. That happened this week when they
took away the Wisconsin rolls and bags and put up the Calif. quarter rolls
and bags.. up until that day, which was yesterday, or the day before, the
Wisconsin rolls and bags were still available.. if they sold a heap more of
them to treasure hunters looking for the extra leaf varieties I guess we
don't know yet, until CW or NN or someone publsihes the final sales
figures..

But they didn't "sell out early" as so many eBay sellers are claiming. They
ran the usual ten week sales cycle and were then yanked when the next
quarter came out this week.

Harv

"Harv" wrote in
:


"Andrew W Applegarth" wrote in message
.. .

I don't find it surprising, and my point is that I don't think the
mint finds it surprising either. Do you think the mint sold more
bags of quarters (or sold the same number much quicker) as a result
of the die varieties? If not, I must say it seems out of line with
the other comments I have read, but I have no hard facts. If you
agree, then I'm sure you see the mint's possible gains by creating
such a 'mistake'.


I'm seeing some eBay sellers, who are either uneducated,
undereducated, or just putting a few extra coats of Turtle Wax on
their hype talking about how the roll pairs and bags of Wisconsin
quarters are sold out at The Mint..

Well sure they're sold out. They sell each State quarter, as most of
us know, for ten weeks, and then mark that State "product is not
available" as soon as they start selling the next one. That happened
this week when they took away the Wisconsin rolls and bags and put up
the Calif. quarter rolls and bags.. up until that day, which was
yesterday, or the day before, the Wisconsin rolls and bags were still
available.. if they sold a heap more of them to treasure hunters
looking for the extra leaf varieties I guess we don't know yet, until
CW or NN or someone publsihes the final sales figures..

But they didn't "sell out early" as so many eBay sellers are claiming.
They ran the usual ten week sales cycle and were then yanked when the
next quarter came out this week.

Harv


That brings up an interesting question that I don't know the answer
to. Do they bag the quarters as they sell them (and thus quit selling
them at the end of the production run as they have no supply left to bag
and sell)? Do they bag ahead and then break any unsold bags and dump
them back into 'circulation' by selling them to the Federal Reserve
Banks? Do they deliver the 'circulation' quarters to the Federal Reserve
Banks in the same bags as they sell them to the general public?


- Andrew W Applegarth

....thought provoked...