Jim Bisognani: Privy to a Beautiful Bounty

With summer season in full swing, it reminds me that the slow season of numismatics, which really wasn't that long ago, is no longer... While it's still a time for family vacations, the coin market remains a vital, ongoing juggernaut of enthusiasm. Yes, my friends, there is truly no more downtime, as witnessed by the incredibly strong prices realized at major venues, local shows, flea markets, and other coin get-togethers nationwide.

As one of my fellow coindexters relayed to me, "Jim, I'm on vacation. But with my iPhone in hand, I've been getting my auction updates and notifications of any lots that I'm following in real time. It doesn't really interfere with the vacation fun at all. Hey, I picked up two lots today before going into Disneyland!"

I heartily concur with my fellow coindexter, as my phone signals the start of upcoming auctions and other alerts that come seemingly nonstop throughout the day.

Of course, the excitement generated by the US Mint announcing the special Declaration of Independence quarters with the July 4 privy mark had — and still has — collectors, dealers, and even non-collectors excitedly searching for those coveted coins. Only 250,000 were released into circulation. One east coast coindexter advised me that he had gone through $8,000 worth of quarters thus far and still hasn't had any luck. For what it's worth, that figure is virtually half the mintage of the "keys" to the Washington Quarter series, including 1932-D and 1932-S!

As we go to press, I am aware that scores of my fellow coindexters have been hunting and searching through untold numbers of rolls and cases of quarters, anxious to pick up one or more of these circulating rarities. Somehow, knowing that major dealers, marketers, and others have no leverage or advantage in this hunt makes it all the more exciting for the average coindexter. Of course, the $2,500 bounty offered by NGC for the first submission of a circulating July 4 Privy Quarter was an extra (and very lucrative) incentive... But we'll talk more about that later.

For now, as I was nostalgic, it was exactly 60 years ago that yours truly and my two brothers were in a literal and figurative heated hunt, searching for that "blurry" 1955 penny that my mom knew she had picked up as a tip as a waitress in the late 1950s. You can read about the exciting hunt for that rarity here.

The Hunt!

The excitement of the hunt is perhaps what inspired Mike Trout of Bennettsville, South Carolina, to find and submit that first July 4th Privy Quarter to NGC for grading and claim the $2,500 bounty!

When I spoke to Mike the other day, he went into great detail about the excitement surrounding the quest to not only locate one of these privy coins for his own collection, but to be the first to submit one to NGC.

A little background about Mike

The Palmetto State coindexter got started on his numismatic journey over 25 years ago when he found one of the modern classics in a box of cereal: the original Cheerios Sacajawea dollars from late 1999. Mike hung onto that coin for a long time, but then somehow, as the regular issue Sacajawea dollars came into circulation, he acquired a few of them. Well, to make a long story short, since the regular Sacajawea dollar looked just like Mike's Cheerios dollar, his prized coin somehow was spent and went back into circulation.

Mike said, after that loss, coins went on the backburner for some time. "Yeah, I lost it," he said. "Things were on hold. I lost quite a bit of interest in collecting at that point. In fact, it wasn't really until 2019 that I was totally reinvested in the hobby." It was the quest during the first coin hunt for the 2019-2020 West Point quarters that got Mike back on track. He was very excited to pull all of these coins from circulation, and said he hasn't looked back or stopped collecting since.

Mike loves history, especially as it pertains to numismatics. Presently, Mike's favorite coins to collect are Morgan and Peace Dollars, and have been for years. He enjoys acquiring mixed dates and occasionally buying groups of raw, uncirculated coins and cherry picking the nicer ones to be submitted for grading.

I asked him what coin would be his first choice if financial restraints were not a concern. He said, "Actually, Jim, I think it would be my dream coin. I guess if I could have any coin that I wanted, and if money wasn't really an object, it would be any eye-appealing Charlotte Mint gold coin. Maybe a Quarter Eagle or Half Eagle. Although, I wouldn't be very picky about the date. I'd just want a nice type coin."

Now, back to the hunt for the July 4th Privy Quarter. Mr. Trout said, "It was a little bit of luck and being at the right place at the right time. I was going to the local drive thru at my bank branch. At the same time, the Brinks driver was making a delivery. So, I asked the teller if they had gotten the delivery of quarters, and if so, could I make a purchase. It was $500 a box. The teller said she would set one aside, but that I would have to go in and pick it up."

When I asked Mike how long it took him to locate the prized privy quarter, his response was quite a surprise. "As soon as I opened the box, I grabbed a roll and flipped it over, and the end coin was the July 4th Privy Quarter. I couldn't believe my eyes, and my heart skipped a beat. I said, 'Holy cow!'"

Mike said that he quickly pulled the coin back out and went to the post office. He immediately shipped it off to NGC to hopefully be the one to claim the bounty. As it turned out, that $500 box of quarters was the mother load!

According to Mike, there were close to 40 of those privy quarters in that box, so far. "I still have about 10 more rolls unopened," said Mike. "I, of course, sent in the first one to NGC, then 15 more for grading. When I get those back from NGC, I plan to give some to family members and friends and perhaps list a few for sale."

Mike said that he does have the first coin graded by NGC in his possession and said it's beautiful. As of right now, it's the cornerstone of his collection.

Though none of those unopened rolls are revealing the privy mark on the end coin, Mike is pretty certain there will be more to come from this cache. He had been leveraging at least one or more privy coins per roll thus far.

For Mike, when he listed the first raw coin for sale on eBay, he was able to get $2,500 for it. "Yeah, I was pretty excited about that," he said. "I think I was probably the first seller on eBay to list that coin in hand for sale."

Since Mike made his listing, there are now more sellers and more availability of the coin, with raw coins now generating around $200-$400 each. Who knows where the market will settle for these coins, but for me, it's déjà vu all over again. It was 60 years ago that I was in the last great hunt, and I will keep looking until I find one of those privy quarters!

Until next time, be safe, and happy collecting!

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