Type B Quarter Questions

[coin detective]

My questions are regarding type B Wash. Quarters, and most likely will have to be answered by Dr. Wiles. My first question is whether your research has been able to identify if proof obverse dies were also used. My next is whether you have found doubled dies within the type B's; both obv. & rev. My third question is if there have been enough samplings, to have an idea of how many B's would have been made in each of the years. My last question is if any type B's have been found outside of the 1956-64 years. I pose the questions here, rather than directly to Dr. Wiles, so that our members will benefit from his response. Thank you. Coin Detective.

[eyesore]

Here are some odservations from a non expert

I have quite a few 57-64 Unc Type b's.

I put an image of a 1958 up a while back
http://board.conecaonline.org/showthread.php?t=2631

The crack/s is/are pretty hard to miss. I've been noticing that 1958's, that have been up on Ebay, recently may also have been from the same die. An example link below

http://cgi.ebay.com/1958-Type-B-Reve...item3efb17dae5

I also have a few circulated 1958's and sure enough..same crack.

So maybe there was just one die that was intended to be used for proof strikes, that was used for circulation strikes in 1958, that would still be a lot of coins.

I would be more than happy to share info on the Type B's in my collection with anyone doing serious research into the variety.

[JamesWiles]

To my knowledge there are no proof crossovers for the obverse designs. Since the date is changed each year, the obverse designs are the same between proof and business strike coins. There are a couple of type B DDRs known. Check the master listings. I designate them with the RDV-002 moniker. Again to my knowledge no die studies have been done to determine how many type B dies were used for a given year. Therefore determining mintage on a per year basis is left to estimates. The 56 appears to be the scarcest especially in mint state grade and all the others are uncommon (meaning that with a little looking you should be able to find them). There are known Type B type reverses for 69-D, 70-D, 71-D, and 72-D as well as the proofs from 68-72. I am not sure if these are the exact same design as the RDV-002 or if the design was tweaked for the 68 proof issue. I suspect it was tweaked and have tentatively listed it as RDV-008. The clad type Bs are extra rare and usually found in circulated grade, making it tough to do detailed design studies. I am still looking for a 72-D for my reference collection.

You can find additional information on scarcity, collectors, etc. on the PCGS forums.

Thanks,
James Wiles

[coin detective]

Many thanks to Dr. Wiles for the always informative and educational response. Coin Detective.

[MSL615]

Coin Detective
About 18 months ago you and I were on a CONECA discussion on the clad Type B quarters, after I had found a circulated 1969D version. I have had some messages back and forth with Dr. Wiles in the meantime, but as he mentioned, trying to figure out how many of these were made has been very hard. I have searched probably thousands of circulated and uncirculated clad 69-72 quarters and while I have found some other cool varieties (e.g a really nice MS 1970D DDR), no more Type B versions, yet. I keep looking.