Coins That Look Common but Aren't Easy to Replace (The Sleeper Hits)

Knowledge is leverage. If you know which dates are "Key Dates," you can pluck treasure out of the "Junk Silver" bin.

The Washington Quarter Example

• 1964-D: Mintage 700 Million. Value: Melt ($4.50).
• 1932-D: Mintage 400,000. Value: $100+.

How to Spot Them

You cannot memorize them all. But you should know the "Big Three" to look for in Junk bins:

1. 1932-D and 1932-S Quarters.
2. 1916-D Mercury Dime. (The Holy Grail).
3. 1921 Peace Dollar. (High relief).

Strategy: When buying a bag of random junk silver, spend 10 minutes checking the dates. You might find a $500 coin mistakenly sold as scrap.