The 1932-D Washington Quarter. MS-66 (PCGS).(Lot 322) has sold in the Bowers and Merena April 2008 Chicago Rarities Sale Session One yesterday for the amount of $143,750. That is a record for any Washington quarter.

Details on this and other highlights from the sale will be posted shortly.

Below is the auction Lot description from the B&M catalog:

“The 1932-D is unique as a Denver Mint Quarter struck during the four-year period from 1930 to 1933. It is also the premier D-mint delivery in the Washington Quarter series, which confirms its historical significance in the 20th century U.S. coinage family. That the 1932-D is also a low-mintage issue with just 436,800 pieces produced has been well known in numismatic circles for decades. On the other hand, that particular fact seems to have been lost on the contemporary public.

One would think that the 1932-D would now be readily obtainable in Mint State due to its first-year status. After all, the contemporary public usually saves large numbers of first-year coins as novelty items, such activity explaining the relative availability of even many low-mintage issues. (An excellent example is the 1909-S V.D.B. Lincoln Cent, Mint State examples of which really do abound in numismatic circles despite a delivery of just 484,000 pieces.) This did not happen in the case of the 1932-D Quarter, however, and anyone interested in setting aside an example of the new type was content to focus on the 1932 or, to a much lesser extent, the 1932-S. This explains why the 1932-D is the prime condition rarity in the entire business strike Washington Quarter series of 1932-date.

The 1932-D is also a key-date issue in the finer circulated grades. Writing in 1994 (The Complete Guide to Washington Quarters) John Feigenbaum asserts that most ‘32-D Quarters in numismatic circles are heavily worn and grade AG or Good. The author also opines that this grade distribution suggests that the 1932-D circulated heavily from the day of issue and escaped collector or other interest for many years.

As far as Mint State coins are concerned, the finest that is usually obtainable in a 1932-D Quarter is an MS-64. Such examples are actually quite plentiful from a market availability standpoint, and this cataloger has produced very few catalogs that did not have at least two or three MS-64s in PCGS and/or NGC holders. The situation, however, changes dramatically beginning in MS-65. Gems are few and far between, and it is not unusual for us to go several sales without offering a single PCGS or NGC MS-65. In MS-66, the 1932-D is unique and represented solely by the important PCGS-certified example that we have the pleasure of highlighting in this lot.

This cataloger had the extremely good fortune of examining this coin when it was consigned to auction in 2001. The coin achieved a record price in that sale despite that fact that the auction took place before the Registry Set concept popularized the collecting of finest-known coins. It is still mounted in the same, older-style PCGS holder with a green insert and identification number 4260522. The luster is full with a vibrant, softly frosted texture as typically seen in high-quality survivors of this Denver Mint issue. The level of surface preservation, however, is extraordinary. Indeed, it is neither rivaled nor surpassed by that possessed by any other ‘32-D Quarter known. There are none but a couple of extremely trivial ticks on the obverse, including one at the base of Washington’s neck above the digit 2 in the date that would seem to make a useful pedigree marker. The toning is also highly attractive, the obverse ringed in reddish-orange and olive-gold peripheral iridescence that frames a brilliant center. On the reverse, you will see soft silvery tinting that yields to a blush of olive-copper patina only at the lower border. Easily the most important offering in the Marquette Yakima Registry Set of Washington Quarters, this unique, top-of-the-pop condition rarity also numbers among the most significant coins in this sale irrespective of denomination or type.

Combined PCGS and NGC Population: only 1; and none are finer.
PCGS# 5791.
From the Marquette-Yakima Registry Set of Washington Quarters. “