Owner Comments:
The Oprah Winfrey show debuted in September 1986, or, perhaps more accurately, it replaced AM Chicago, which had run from 1974-1986 and which Winfrey had hosted since 1984. The Oprah Winfrey show ran until 2011. A 25-year run for a talk show is pretty darn impressive when you think about it.
I don’t know how relevant this show or Oprah are to most people today now that the show has been off the air for over 10 years, but, growing up, I don’t know that there was anyone who didn’t know who Oprah was and a lot of people watched it and talked about it - making it a bit funny to realize that the show debuted the year we were born. I do wonder if a random 15-25 year old, if asked today, would know who Oprah is or know about the Oprah Winfrey show and it is funny to think that, at this point, knowing who Oprah is may finally becoming a way to date yourself, but I think my hairline and my grey are starting to do that for me.
The show also gave us little, spin-off, “gems” like Dr. Phil, which started in 2002 and is still on the air as of late 2021. So, it has now earned its own, also impressive, 20-year run.
75% Copper, 25% Nickel (Cupronickel) over a pure copper center / core
Mintage: 504,298,660
5.67 grams
24.3 mm diameter
Designer: John Flanagan
Eagle Reverse (1932-1998)
I found this coin on eBay, once again, initially shopping for coins for holes in the 1982 and 1983 sets, when I yet again asked myself, “I wonder if there’s anything good available for 1986?” I found this thing for a low price (in absolute terms anyway, whether it was actually a good deal is open for debate). I thought it looked tempting and added it to my watch list for later consideration.
The next morning, I woke up to see the seller had made an offer to sell it for $19 + free shipping. For context, at the time the NGC grading fee for modern coins was $18, and you’d still have to buy the coin and pay shipping 2-3 ways. So, I decided, “Why not?” and snapped it up, upgrading the MS65 that had been in this set for 13 years to an MS66. The only thing that gave me pause at the time was the fact that I knew MS67s were available for only about $275-300 and I thought it might be better to just wait and go for an MS67 down the road. But I wasn’t sure when, or if, I’d ever be willing to put down $300 for a modern, common, quarter in the name of upgrading this set and trying to be #1. Paying $19 for the first upgrade to this set in almost exactly 3 years, by contrast, felt easy and guilt-free. So, I just went for it.