US Mint Ends Puerto Rico Quarter Sales in Bags and Rolls

US Mint sales of Puerto Rico quarters in bags and rolls ended Tuesday with the release of the Guam quarters.

Impressive tallies from the latest US Mint sales report show that 37,295 of the 100-coin bags, 2,000 of the 1,000-coin bags and 41,699 of the two-roll sets were sold.

Puerto Rico quarter sales surged when news spread of their relative scarcity compared to other modern quarters. Registering lows that have not been seen in over 40 years, the 2009-P has a mintage of just 53.2 million and the 2009-D has a mintage of 86 million.

The Mint’s quarter-dollar products were launched on March 30. In a week’s time, the 1,000-coin bags sold out. Then the 100-coin (P) bag sold out late last week with 20,000 purchased by collectors.

Given the incremental sales pace of bags from Denver, instead of a "real sellout" Tuesday the Mint likely pulled them from store shelves with the Guam quarter debut. The story is likely the same with the Puerto Rico quarter two-roll sets.

However, whether the Mint stopped selling them or whether they met the Mint’s internal limit is hardly the point. The real story is the demand for the quarters on whole. And that demand appears to be ongoing based on current prices in the secondary market.

The US Mint 1,000-coin bags were priced at $309.95, the 100-coin bags at $32.95, and the two-roll sets at $32.95. (Plus $4.95 or $7.95 for shipping.) Take a look at current eBay auctions for bags and rolls of the coins:

US Mint Puerto Rico quarter rolls

US Mint Puerto Rico quarter bags

Common initial listing prices for the 100-coin bags is $50. Typical two-roll prices are between $40-$55.

Here is a play-by-play table of weekly US Mint sales figures from beginning to end: