Two quarters catch my eye

Over the weekend as I was out and about I received some quarters in change after making a small purchase.

As the 65 cents I was owed was placed in my hand, the quarters looked stunning. Had I been a kid first learning about proofs, I might have mistaken them for proof coins.

Naturally, I had to stop to examine them before getting on with my day.

They turned out to be two 2010 Grand Canyon quarters from the Philadelphia Mint.

Now in my daily life in Iola, the America the Beautiful quarters are very scarce, so to get two at once and of the fourth design of the year to boot is a bit unusual.

Both quarters were well struck and had a nice frosted appearance. Looking at them under better light revealed, of course, that they were not proofs, but still the coins were well struck. I was impressed.

A stray thought popped out from the back of my mind: I have received few complaints this year about the quality of coins from Philadelphia. That was a popular complaint not that many years ago before the economy plunged.

If the two coins in my hand are any indication of the present quality of production at the Mother Mint, the complaints should be pretty well done with.

I have to admit, though, that because of the recession, I have not seen all that many 2009 or 2010 coins. Older issues predominate in change around here, so I cannot claim that these two coins are representative of anything other than my direct observation.

Nevertheless, they were a pleasant surprise.