1964 25C PR66 Certification #50985811, PCGS #5996

Jaime Hernandez

The 1964 Proof Washington Quarter is very common without Cameo or Deep Cameo surfaces in most grades and easily affordable up to about PR68 condition. 

Proof (non-Cameo or Deep Cameo): Most examples probably fall in this category and only in PR70 are they hard to find.

Proof Cameo: In Cameo condition it is scarce in R69 condition or higher. 

Proof Deep Cameo: In Deep Cameo condition it is somewhat underrated, as fewer than 1,000 total examples in all grades combined, have been graded by PCGS with the Deep Cameo designation. Anything grading PR68 Deep Cameo or higher is considered scarce.     

Charles Morgan

1964 Washington Quarter Proof: The End of an Era

The year 1964 marked a seismic shift in United States coinage—not only for Proof issues like the 1964 Washington Quarter (#5996) but for all silver denominations struck for circulation.

The dime, quarter, and half dollar were on the verge of total compositional overhauls. By the decade's end, only the Kennedy Half Dollar would retain any silver content (at a reduced 40%), while the Washington Quarter and Roosevelt Dime were debased into "sandwich" metals of copper and nickel.

A Record-Breaking Year

Capping a decade of intense speculation, the 1964 Proof Set established an all-time sales record of 3,950,762 sets. While the Mint had sold over three million sets annually in the three preceding years, the 1964 surge was driven by organic demand for the new Kennedy Half Dollar and speculators who viewed the $2.10 issue price as a low-risk, high-reward investment.

Overwhelmed by demand and facing a national coin shortage, the U.S. Treasury took "draconian" measures in 1965 to prioritize commerce over collectors:

• Mintmarks were removed to discourage hoarding of specific issues.
• A "date freeze" was instituted, mandating that the 1964 date remain on 90% silver coins struck through early 1966, while the 1965 date was applied to clad issues struck through July 31, 1966.
• Proof Sets were suspended from 1965 to 1967, replaced by the "Special Mint Sets" (SMS).

The SMS was a hybrid—better than circulation strikes but lacking the mirrored fields of true, double-struck Proofs. While these sold for double the price of 1964 sets, they are largely underappreciated today and often add to the confusion surrounding the 1965–1967 business-strike issues.

Collecting the 1964 Washington Quarter Proof

A vast number of 1964 Washington Quarter Proofs remain uncertified, either housed in their Original Government Packaging (OGP) or having been cut out and placed in coin albums or flips. For the majority of these "broken-out" singles, incidental handling or the friction from plastic album slides has introduced surface impairments that preclude the high grades expected of modern Proof issues.

For the nearly 10,000 coins submitted to PCGS, a clear story emerges from the data. According to the PCGS Population Report, approximately 85% are Brilliant Proofs—either fully brilliant or possessing insufficient frost to qualify as Cameo. Cameos comprise 10% of the certified total, while Deep Cameos account for just 5%. While these percentages appear stronger than those of the 1960–1963 issues, their apparent abundance belies their true scarcity. In reality, Cameos and Deep Cameos are heavily cherry-picked from sets, meaning their submission rate far exceeds that of Brilliant examples. Even a "glassy" specimen with nearly flawless surfaces is often overlooked by submitters in favor of a frosted example.

In terms of quality, Brilliant Proofs are available in quantity through PCGS PR68. A small number of examples have earned the "perfect" grade of PCGS PR70, though no Cameo or Deep Cameo examples have graded finer than PCGS PR69.

Vintage Market Snippet

The first 1964 Washington Quarter Proof certified as PCGS PR69DCAM was graded on March 14, 1991.

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