"Extra Leaf" 2004-D Wisconsin quarter dollars were reported in a third area as general-interest news media spread a search fever during the week beginning Feb. 6 and prices rose.
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COMPARE THE extra leaf or husk indicated by the arrows on each of the two 2004-D Wisconsin quarter dollars to the same area of the design on a normal coin. If your coin has one of these extra "leaves," it could be worth $100 or more!
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Retail prices as high as about $1,100 for the "Extra Leaf High" in upper Mint State grades have been seen. As of Feb. 11, Eagle Eye Rare Coins, Tucson, Ariz., was selling three-piece sets (including one "normal") certified by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America at prices from $449 in MS-65 to $1,099 in MS-67. Various options were selling out while return of other specimens from certification services was awaited.
Only a couple of weeks before, at the Florida United Numismatists convention, three-piece sets were being sold for about $150.
Not all hobbyists agree that the coins are worth their current market values.
Minting variety specialist and Coin World columnist Ken Potter, who said he had been awaiting actual coins for examination before commenting, now says: "The coins represent nothing but trivial die gouges. They are prominent - more so than average - but they are not 'extra leaves' by any stretch of the imagination. They are die gouges, or possibly die dents, with an estimated value of no more than $10 each by standards usually attached to such items. … I for one do not welcome a return to the days of marketing minor flaws under fancy names that have nothing to do with what they actually are. …"
Distribution of the coins in circulation has expanded.
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Normal coin, full image (top) and enlarged (bottom).
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James Shaff of Flagstaff, Ariz., said he regularly buys five rolls of new State quarter dollars from a local bank, as each type comes out.
After reading of the variants in Coin World, he searched his Wisconsin rolls and found 12 "Extra Leaf High" specimens and four "Extra Leaf Low," he said. He learned that another customer of the same bank had also found some of the scarcities, he said.
Both varieties come from the Denver Mint. The D Mint mark is on the obverse of the coin. On the "Extra Leaf High" reverse, a slightly curved line connects the wheel of cheese with a cornstalk leaf above. On the "Extra Leaf Low," a wider arc connects the base of the ear of corn with the top of the cheese to the left.
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Shaff was inundated with newspaper, radio and television attention, and a search frenzy for the irregular quarter dollars started in Flagstaff.
That frenzy repeated what happened around Tucson, Ariz., and San Antonio, Texas, the first and second spots, respectively, where quantities have been reported.
Coin World reported in the Jan. 10 issue that Old Pueblo Coin Exchange in Tucson had found quantities of both varieties. A local collector, 72-year-old retiree Bob Ford, is credited with the discovery from bank rolls Dec. 11.
Eagle Eye had tracked pieces known as of Jan. 11 to be 2,000 "Extra Leaf High" and 2,750 "Extra Leaf Low." The numbers have been growing only a bit at a time but steadily.
Juan Digaldo, first to report finding some of both varieties in San Antonio, has said a handful now have been reported from Kerrville, to the northwest. Eagle Eye has reported some numbers found in other Arizona locales besides Tucson: Phoenix, Bisbee and Casa Grande.
Everywhere one "Extra Leaf" variety has been reported, so has the other, leading observers to think the two were produced and shipped at about the same time.
Banks in Arizona are within the 12th Federal Reserve District based in San Francisco; in Texas, within the 11th FRD, based in Dallas. Delivery of Denver Mint coins to local banks ultimately goes from the Federal Reserve mostly by private, armored services, which may mix coins from the huge bags in which they emerge from the Mint. Those who have found "Extra Leaf" quarter dollars in bank rolls report them always mixed with "normal" pieces.
Both Professional Coin Grading Service and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation of America were keeping separate "population reports" on those examples they have certified.
As mass media turned attention to the story, Michael White of the Mint's Office of Public Affairs issued this statement Feb. 8:
"We are aware of the extra leaf-like markings on the reverse of some Wisconsin State quarters that bear the 'D' Mint mark. The United States Mint is looking into the matter to determine possible causes in the manufacturing process. It is unknown how many of these specific quarters may have been produced.
"We are not aware of any past instances in the 50 State Quarters program similar to this. Quality control is a high priority for the United States Mint and will remain so.
"Therefore, we are reviewing retained Wisconsin quarter samples, examining our process assurance inspections, and reviewing our manufacturing processes.
"In total, 453,200,000 Wisconsin quarters were minted for up to a 10-week period. About half of those were minted at the United States Mint at Denver, the other half at the United State Mint at Philadelphia. Each State quarter is not minted beyond the specified 10-week period."
The Wisconsin quarter dollars were the last type minted for 2004. California quarter dollars are currently in production.
So far, each "Extra Leaf" variety appears confined to a single die, and no other differences from "normal" reverses have been reported.
The average life of a quarter dollar reverse die is about 250,000 strikes.
Kenneth Bressett, editor of A Guide Book of United States Coins (the "Red Book"), has told Coin World that plans are to mention the varieties in a footnote in the 59th edition this summer but not to make them "line listings" for now.
The frenzy received front-page attention in USA Today and was featured on National Public Radio and national television networks. Many local newspapers were localizing stories by quoting area coin collectors or dealers.
Many news accounts included expert opinion that the strange extra marks came from accidental gouges or dents in the dies, but weight was often given to speculation that the marks were deliberately added by Mint workers without authorization.
