Check the Value of your 1965 Quarter coin in 2023 (Up To $19,200!)

This article looks back into the history of quarters and reveals their most valuable quarters from 1965 to today, and will show you which coin is worth the most, how much it’s actually worth, and a brief overview of its history.

How much is a 1965 quarter worth in 2023

Is a 1965 quarter worth anything? Estimated Value of 1965 Washington Quarters in mint state is:

For lower grades, prices in 2021 range between $715 and $955 for a MS67+ and $200 for a MS67.

Therefore, it is worth reading the following article to learn about the errors or variants of the 1965 Washington quarter that are most valuable and in demand in today’s market, due to their scarcity or peculiarity.

Valuable Quarters from 1965

What’s a 1965 quarter worth? The price range for post-1965 quarters spans from a high of $19,200 to the $9,200 of the fifth position. In this ranking you can see the hammer prices achieved by this type of coins according to Heritage Auctions.

To be a good investment, the 1965 25 cents should have no sign of circulation. These signs of circulation can be bumps, scratches, heavy wear, and loss of original shine. 

In these cases, the 1965’s  quarters will be worth no more than its face value, 25 cents.

If you find an uncirculated copy, in perfect condition, then its value goes up exponentially and in this case, you have the choice of having it appraised or sending it to a grading company if you deduce its quality is high and it could be a good investment.

How to Identify an Original 1965 Quarter That’s Worth More Than $1

Checklist to determine its value:

1. Learn to differentiate the different types and varieties of coins.
2. Identify the state of preservation of your coin: Be honest and try to verify what is the actual grade your coin can be graded in. Doing this objectively will save you a lot of trouble. Mintstate rules!
3. Know the key date varieties and relevant mintmarks: Not all issue the same number of coins and some are more interesting than others to coin collectors.

Grading your 1965 Quarter

To graduate a piece we need both the grade and level, an alphanumeric grade.

Attending its characteristics we have the following levels:

Note: In this example the type of currency is not important, the main thing is that you learn to recognize the relevant factors of each grade of the scale. Then you will be able to grade all types of currencies!

Circulated states of conservation

Poor, poor (P-1): Few currency details. Just to be able to identify it’s type and date, sometimes not even that. Usually, they are excessively circulated and quite mistreated specimens with a flat design. The edges are flat and hardly distinguishable from the fields.

Fair, regular (FR-2): Copies with enough details for identification of type, date, mint, etc. but not as badly treated as the previous one. The edges start to be distinguished from the coin field, and some contours of the coin images.

About Good, almost good (AG-3): Most of the design is appreciated. You can read several letters and/or digits of the date.

Good, good (G-4): High wear, little visibility of details but letters and digits are almost clearly visible. The overall design of the coin is appreciated.

Good, good (G-6): The edges are clear and not smooth. Letters and digits are better appreciated.

Very Good, very good (VG-8): They are still exemplary with important wear but the main characteristics can be appreciated, although very smoothly.

Very Good, very good (VG-10): All but smooth design is appreciated. As a general rule, to be accepted to enter this category, Barber, Liberty Nickels and Indian Head Cents must have at least 3 letters of the word LIBERTY visible.

Fine, good (F-12): Important and uniform wear, but the most important elements can be seen with some clarity. Letters of the legends are not joined with the edge.

Fine, either (F-15): Similar to above and some letters or digits are clear. For Barber, Liberty Nickels and Indian Head Cents coins the 7 letters of the word LIBERTY should be visible even if some are ill-defined.

Very Fine, Very Good/Very Fine (VF-20): More moderate wear with some sharper detail. The legends, or part of them, can be easily seen and are more separated from the edge.

Very Fine, very good/very fine (VF-25): Almost complete details with very smooth design areas.

Very Fine, very good/very fine (VF-30): The design areas are smooth.

Very Fine, Very Good/Very Fine (VF-35): Full details but the highest points of the design are worn.

Extremely Fine, extremely good (EF-40): Slight wear and tear at the highest points. The finest and smallest details are already visible. Legends re-created.

Extremely Fine, extremely good (EF-45): Wear and tear on the highest points is minimal.

About Uncirculated (AU-50): The part is slightly worn by more than 50%. The highest points of the design have a slight softness.

About Uncirculated (AU-53): Similar to the above, but the raised areas of the design have minimal smoothness.

About Uncirculated (AU-55): Wear is present on less than 50% of the part.

About Uncirculated (AU-58): Wear only at high points in the design. Coins in this grade are so good that they are often confused with MS grades (the higher grades we will see below).

Uncirculated states of conservation

For uncirculated coins, there are 11 other grades that are usually called Mint State (MS) although they are also assigned denominations such as Uncirculated (Unc.) or Brilliant Uncirculated (BU).

We refer in these grades to coins that show no signs of having circulated and are well minted but may have marks or scratches from handling or storage, discoloration in glosses, or the odd tap. In such cases, the numerical grades within MS are used.

Uncirculated (MS-60): No wear on elevated areas. Coining was weak. Many abrasions, scratches or marks. Faint gloss.

Uncirculated (MS-61): Basically differs from the previous one in that the dashes, marks, etc. are smaller.

Uncirculated (MS-62): Medium coinage, less slack than previous grades Large abrasions.

Select Uncirculated (MS-63): Abrasions less than the previous grade. Stripes of various sizes. Slight shine.

Choice Uncirculated (MS-64): Medium coinage or higher. Marks, stripes and other minor flaws.

Gem Uncirculated (MS-65): Good coinage with small marks or stripes. Original high gloss.

Gem Uncirculated (MS-66): Very good coinage with few stripes/marks.

Superb Gem Uncirculated (MS-67): Strong coinage with some imperfections.

Superb Gem Uncirculated (MS-68): Strong coinage with tiny imperfections not visible to the naked eye. Perfect original shine. High visual appeal.

Superb Gem Uncirculated (MS-69): Perfectly coined with imperceptible imperfections, needing to be enlarged to see them. Perfect original brightness.

Perfect Uncirculated (MS-70): Perfectly minted, centered, perfectly plated coin. No imperfections even at x5 magnification. Complete and original brilliance.

Although they are not strictly proper to this article, yet since they appear quite assiduously in the grading of coins, we think it is important to clarify what the Proof denomination means.

The term Proof (PR or PF) is not a proper grade although it can be misleading. Rather, it refers to the form and method by which a coin was struck. It is also used to grade Proof pieces the 11 levels of MS although with its own acronym, ie PR-60 (=MS60), PR-61 (=MS61), PR-62 (=MS62), etc. based on their conservation, appearance and brightness.

Both PCGS and NGC use the “+” symbol for the graduations of some parts and levels.

PCGS assigns the “+” only for the 30% of the parts with the greatest visual appeal for grades XF-45 to MS-68. NGC uses this “+” (plus) for top coins within each grade so that they look closer to the next higher grade, and also limits it to grades from XF-45 to MS-68.

In addition, NGC also uses a star “*” for those specimens with extraordinary visual appearance (hue, brightness, etc) within the same grade of single color or multicolored but never with dark brown areas that are almost black.

Quarters with silver? What year quarters have silver?

Washington’s last quarter coinage in 90% silver took place in 1964. When did they stop making silver quarters in a silver planchet? From that date onwards its composition became a copper and nickel core.

In this post, we are going to focus on the first year of the Washington quarter’s cupronickel coinage that took place in 1965. In spite of the high number of pieces minted – more than 1.8 billion – it is not very common to find the Washington quarter without signs of having been circulated.

Since the material the coins are made of has no value – due to the absence of silver – you should look for the highest graduations and the best preservations for the Washington 25 cents whenever possible.

How to tell if a 1965 Quarter is Silver?

It’s possible that more 1965 silver error quarters are in existence. But how would you identify one? It’s simple. The easiest method is to weigh the coin on a calibrated gram scale. The standard clad quarters weigh 5.67 grams and the 90% silver quarters weigh 6.25 grams. You can also use the eye test. Silver quarters are shinier and they don’t have any copper or nickel layers showing on the edge of the coin.

Apparently, the silver 1965 Washington quarter is the same as those made of cupronickel, being easily confused.

How can we detect this error so sought-after and valued by collectors and investors?

There is only one way to prove it – by its weight. The 1965 Washington silver quarter weighs a little more than 6 grams, while the 1965 Washington cupronickel quarter, as we saw at the beginning of the article, weighs 5.67 grams.

This is a very difficult error to find since there are a lot of copies on the Internet. In fact, during 2020, we have not seen any pieces at auction in any international auction house.

1965 silver Washington quarters that appeared in auctions in years before 2020 have been auctioned for between $7,200 and $8,500 depending on their gradings.

Why are 1965 quarters valuable?

Are 1965 quarters worth anything A 1965 Washington quarter in a very high graduation like MS68 reached a value of $1,300 in 2020. So high is its scarcity at this graduation, PCGS has no specimens registered in this quality and NGC only 9 specimens. In case you want to know the prices of other years just click on Quarters worth money – Auction records.

In 2021 we have seen several quarter Washington 1965 SMS copies being slightly below the 1965 Washington quarter. In quality MS68+, it has reached $1,180 ($1,125 in MS68 CAMEO), from $31 to $63 we have found it in MS68 quality, from $60 to $132 for MS67 CAMEO, $36 for a MS67.

Characteristics of a 1965 quarter dollar

Here is a summary of the characteristics of the Washington quarter that you should know:

• Print run: 1,819,717,540
• Face value: 25 cents.
• Mint: Philadelphia (no mint mark)
• Designer-Trainer: John Flanagan
• Diameter: 24.3 mm
• Weight: 5.67 grams
• Composition: 75% copper and 25% nickel
• Reason: Commemoration of the bicentennial of the birth of the first President of the United States
• Period of circulation: 1932-1998

Due to the time and resources needed for the production of proof series, in 1964 these ceased. However, in 1965 they began to mint coins of superior quality.

The 1965 quarter SMS (Special Mint Set) was produced at the San Francisco Mint, although the mint mark does not appear, with the same characteristics as the Philadelphia mint. A total of 2,360,000 SMS units were minted.

What rare 1965 quarter errors are worth money?

Are there any rare 1965 quarters? Keep on reading our list (include 1965 quarter errors).

1. Misprint error Off-center Coining 1965 Quarter

A common error in these two currencies (1965 and 1965 SMS) that makes their price rise above the average, is known as off-center minting.

This error occurs in the manufacturing process when the die is not fixed in the correct position before the coinage, producing the printing of the wedges outside the established limits.

For this reason, the design of the obverse and reverse are displaced from the center of the coin. This offset can be from 1% to 99%.

The demand and value of these pieces lie in the percentage of the off-center they present (the higher the off-center, the higher their value) and in the data that can be seen in the resulting coin.
In the following table, we reflect the prices of pieces that have appeared in auctions in 2020. You can see that they do not appear very often in international auctions although they are not so difficult to find on the Internet, although at a higher price.

1965 Quarter Off-center value chart 

In case of 35% off center the reference price for a MS64 grade is $95.

2.1965 Silver quarter error

As we said, the 90% 1965 silver quarters were discontinued in 1964. However, in 1965, silver Washington quarters dated 1964 and cupronickel quarters dated 1965 were minted simultaneously.

At least one 1965 90% silver quarter is known to exist and in 2014 it sold for $7,050 at an auction.

That year, 1965, was minted in large quantities and presumably, this error was caused by using a certain consignment of silver planchets dated 1964 for the year 1965. 

3. DDO and DDR Error: Double Coin on the Front (DDO) or on the Back (DDR) 

In the third place of  most important 1965 quarter error is another type of 1965 Washington quarter originated by a mistake in the minting of the obverse. It is not easy to detect it with the naked eye either, which is why you may want to pay attention to the phrase “IN GOD WE TRUST” and the word “LIBERTY” on the front. These are the areas where this double minting is best appreciated. It is also common to see these double mints on the nose and mouth of Washington on some 1965 quarters.

The valuation of a 1965 25-cents with double coinage on the front ranges from $360 to $2,300.

There is another variant similar to the previous one, but in this case the double minting is produced on the reverse side and is better appreciated in some letters of the “QUARTER DOLLAR” value.

Reviewing the market for these two variants, the error on the back is less valuable than the double coinage on the front, as it is not such a sought-after piece by collectors. Its price is anywhere between $25 and $175.

4. Error 1965 Quarter coined in planchets of different modules

The year 1965 was also a transition year for other American currency modules such as the ‘dime’. For this reason large quantities were minted, and different coin planchets were used during 1965 for different modules and dates.
Thus, there are pieces of 25 cent Washington coins from 1965 that were minted on dimes (10 cents), 5 cents or 1 cent coin planchets. Here are some examples:

They are easy to detect visually since part of the coin is somewhat trimmed as it cannot accommodate the smaller planchet dimensions of a 25 cent, and even for the value of 1 cent which is a different material composition.

They are also detectable with a coin-weighing scale, as in the case of the 1965 silver-minted quarter. For example, this is because the 5 cents planchet weighs just 5 grams and the 25 cents coin weighs 5.67 grams.

This year, 2020, a 1965 quarter coin minted on a 1 cent MS64 grade planchet has been seen in auctions, reaching a value of $552. Also, a 10 cent silver dime coin on MS64 grade planchet, whose price was $1,440.

5. Error Double Tail 1965 Quarter

Only 3 copies of this rare and unexplained error are known, consisting of the same minting of the reverse side on both sides of the coin. Two of those three copies were sold long ago for $80,000 and $41,000.

Since the back does not show the date, it is not known exactly if the error belongs to this year, but numismatic experts consider that the date of minting was between 1965 and 1967.

Do you want to know more about 1967 quarters? Click here to find out all about the value of the 1967 quarter.

As a warning, we will say that there are many counterfeits of this error, created by cutting Washington quarter coins in half and then gluing the two backs together. To avoid being cheated, we have to look at the edge of the coin and its exact weight.

6. Error Double or Multi-Counterfeit 1965 Quarter

The error comes from the fact that the coin could not be expelled after the printing of the obverse and reverse, and received another minting blow. Its price is over $400.

It is also normal in this error for a certain rotation of the obverse and reverse of the same coin. Since they cannot be expelled, they frequently remain turned before the second or following mintings.

This makes it difficult to check their authenticity in photos, and a visual check of the piece with this error is absolutely necessary.

7. Error “Broad Struck” and “Struck Through” 1965 Washington Quarter

To conclude, here are some examples of other types of errors or known variants of these 1965 Washington 25-cents called “Broad struck” and “Struck Through“.

In one of them the ring that holds the coin in the coinage did not work properly and the coin is minted as if it were expanded, so its legends look longer and flatter than normal.

In the “Struck Through” variant, some kind of impurity (staple, clip, etc…) got between the die and some of the wedges at the moment of the coinage, leaving an imperfection in the coin.

They are not as sought after as the variants we have seen previously in the article, but if you come across any of them, you will multiply the value of your quarter.

Final key points to finding the most valuable quarters after 1965

In light of this article, our recommendation is to establish a series of routines when reviewing every 1965 Washington quarter that falls into your hands, in case it has more value than you first thought:

• Look for 1965 quarters in high quality.
• Look carefully at each coin, even if it is in circulation, on the obverse (In God We Trust and Liberty) and on the reverse (Quarter Dollar) in case there is any double minting.
• Be aware of any imperfections or mismatches on the rim and the edge of the coin.
• Review both sides of the coin for any scratches or imperfections in the field.

Here’s a quick recap of 1965 Quarters worth money:

References and sources

• Heritage auctions
• NGC
• eBay

Rafa Sánchez

Numismatic collector with a passion for history, particularly Spanish history.
I have a degree in Business Administration and Management and numismatics studies at the University of Murcia (Spain).