1977-D Washington Quarter--Struck on a Silver Clad Planchet--MS-61 (PCGS).

Simply put, this is one of the most significant Mint errors that we have offered in recent sales. Whereas the 1977-D Washington quarter is a copper-nickel clad issue, this piece was erroneously struck on a silver clad (a.k.a. 40% silver) planchet used for the some of the San Francisco Mint's Bicentennial issues of 1976. We know of at least one example that NGC has certified as a transitional error, a term reserved for special types of wrong planchet errors that involve coins struck on a planchet from a previous or following year's production involving a chance in metallic composition. The discovery piece for this rare error was reported by Bernie Steinbock prior to 1981. Since then very few others have come to light, and to the best of our knowledge only two other examples have appeared at auction in recent years: an NGC EF Details coin that sold as lot 3499 in Heritage's January 2016 FUN Signature Auction, and an NGC AU-55 that realized $9,000 as lot 1412 in our August 2018 ANA Auction. This error was known to Walter Breen, who assigned it catalog reference number 4457 in his 1988 encyclopedia and described it as such: "The single great rarity in this period {1977-] is the 1977 D silver-clad; this piece is on an obsolete Bicentennial blank which remained in the hopper at resumption of regular nickel-clad coinage, in exact parallel to the 1943 bronze cents and 1946 wartime silver 5 [cent] coins. How it got to Denver is uncertain." A pleasing and very rare Mint State example, both sides exhibit pale silver tinting to sharply struck, softly lustrous surfaces. Smooth and inviting in hand, this coin is sure to see spirited bidding among both Mint error specialists and advanced Washington quarter collectors.

PCGS# E5903. NGC ID: 247K.