Building a Type Set: The 2016 Cumberland Gap Quarter, Spooned Edges, and Choosing the Best Strike for Your Dansco Album

Building a type set is the closest thing we have to holding history in your hands. Every empty hole in the album is a doorway—into a different era, a different design philosophy, a different chapter of minting technology. In this 47th variation of my 50-part type-set series, I want to turn a recent forum discussion into a teaching moment. Someone had pulled a 2016 Cumberland Gap quarter from pocket change and noticed something odd: smooth edges, a raised rim, and what the owner called a “high collar.” Could a coin really leave the Mint like that? The short answer is no. The longer answer is exactly the lesson every type-set collector needs before dropping a representative example into a Dansco album.

The 2016 Cumberland Gap Quarter That Launched a Thousand Comments

I’ve examined plenty of modern quarters with edge anomalies, and this pattern is a familiar one. The 2016 Cumberland Gap National Historical Park quarter is a copper-nickel clad coin: outer layers of 75% copper and 25% nickel bonded to a pure copper core, weighing about 5.67 grams and measuring 24.26 mm across. Like every Washington quarter, it should carry a reeded edge—those familiar ridges the collar die raises during the strike. Skip the collar, and the planchet isn’t constrained. The result is a broadstruck coin: wider than normal, with a plain edge running all the way around. The forum coin showed nothing of the sort.

The original poster noticed the reeding seemed to vanish “just from the copper part of the edge.” The edges felt very smooth, and the collar looked unusually high. Other members landed on the likely culprit fast: post-mint damage. One reply nailed it with the kind of blunt clarity I love:

“It’s been ‘tapped’ on the edges — PMD.”

I agree. Those fine concentric lines around the perimeter give it away, and so does the raised rim above that smooth, almost polished edge. A coin that’s been “spooned”—tapped again and again along its edge with a spoon, a hammer, or something similar—gets its metal pushed inward. The diameter shrinks, and the rim climbs. It’s a common first step toward making a coin ring, and it’s a project a lot of people abandon once they see how much elbow grease it takes. A dryer coin can mimic some of these traits too, especially if it snags in the mechanism instead of just tumbling in the drum. But whether the cause was spooning, tapping, a dryer, or some mechanical edge treatment, the coin is altered. It is not a Mint error, and it has no business serving as a representative strike in a type set.

For buyers, the takeaway is simple: never pay a premium for a smooth-edged modern quarter without independent attribution from a major grading service. For sellers, call it what it is—altered, or PMD. It’s a curiosity, not a rarity. The 2016 Cumberland Gap quarter was struck in the hundreds of millions across Philadelphia and Denver, with a San Francisco proof issue on top of that. Normal examples are everywhere.

Why This Coin Does Not Belong in a Type Set Hole

A type set isn’t a catch-all for every odd coin that crosses your path. It’s a curated statement—of designs, denominations, and the major design shifts that mark our coinage. In a Dansco album, each hole poses one honest question: what’s the best example of this type I can afford? A spooned quarter answers a completely different question. It belongs in a side collection of post-mint damage, or in a “what not to buy” teaching set—not in the Cumberland Gap slot of an America the Beautiful page.

Type, Variety, Error, and PMD: Know the Difference

• Type: A distinct design or denomination, such as the Washington quarter or the America the Beautiful series.
• Variety: A recognized die or hub difference—a doubled die, a repunched mint mark, a known overdate. It has to be attributable and cataloged to count as a rare variety.
• Error: A manufacturing mistake—a broadstrike, off-center strike, clipped planchet, or wrong planchet. It happens at the Mint, during production.
• PMD: Post-mint damage. Spooning, tapping, dryer damage, edge filing, polishing, ring-making. It all happens after the coin leaves the Mint.

The thread trotted out a familiar refrain: “Why are there so many 2016 Shawnee with no ridges?” The 2016 Shawnee National Forest quarter is a separate America the Beautiful issue, and the same PMD tricks work on any quarter. A cluster of similar-looking damaged coins doesn’t prove a Mint variety. It proves people experiment with coins—sometimes in batches. I’ve seen that smooth-edge look on state quarters, ATB quarters, even half dollars. The diagnosis never changes: altered edge, not missing collar.

Dansco Albums: The Working Backbone of a Type Set

I reach for Dansco albums because they force discipline. A 7070-style album for classic U.S. types, paired with modern quarter pages for the America the Beautiful series, hands you a visual shopping list. You can see what you own, what you still need, and what you’re tempted to overpay for. The album isn’t a grading service—but it’s a superb organizing tool, and for a type-set collector, that matters more than most folks admit.

Dansco Tips That Save You Money

• Choose the album before the coins. Decide up front whether you’re building a business-strike set, a proof set, or a mixed set. The holes will keep you honest.
• Don’t force a coin into a hole. A tight fit can scratch a proof or flatten a rim. Use the right page, and handle coins by the edges.
• Leave empty holes visible. They’re your want list. I keep a photo of my Dansco pages on my phone so I don’t buy duplicates at shows.
• Upgrade in place. Start with a raw AU or BU example, then swap in a better strike when you find one. The album becomes a record of your own eye improving.
• Keep slabbed high-end coins separate. Slabs don’t fit Dansco holes. Go the certified route, and you’ll want a slab binder or display case—leave the album for your raw representatives.

For the 2016 Cumberland Gap quarter, a normal business strike in the album is the right call. Want a proof? Give it a separate proof page or a dedicated proof set. Don’t try to bend a damaged coin to fit a type-set story. The album is a history book, not a junk drawer.

Choosing the Best Strike for the Type: A 2016 Cumberland Gap Checklist

When I pick a type coin, I’m not chasing the biggest number on a label. I’m chasing the best strike and the most honest surfaces I can afford. For a modern clad quarter, that means a fully reeded edge, complete rims, crisp lettering, and a clean design. The Cumberland Gap reverse shows a frontiersman gazing through the gap, and the high points of that portrait should stand sharp—not mushy. On the obverse, the Washington portrait needs a clear hairline and a fully defined bow tie and collar.

Strike and Surface Checklist

1. Edge: Full, even reeding all the way around. No smooth patches, no raised rim from tapping, no concentric abrasion lines.
2. Rims: Complete and even. A broadstruck coin runs wider and plain-edged; a spooned coin often comes in slightly small with a pushed-up rim.
3. Lettering: “CUMBERLAND GAP,” “2016,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” and the mint mark should be sharp. Weak lettering points to a soft strike or wear.
4. Surfaces: Original luster, no cleaning, no polishing, no whizzing, no edge filing. On proofs, mirrored fields and frosted devices should be undisturbed.
5. Mint mark: Philadelphia and Denver business strikes are your standard type representatives. San Francisco proofs are a separate collecting path.
6. Weight and diameter: A normal quarter sits close to 5.67 grams and 24.26 mm. Altered edges often show a slightly reduced diameter or an underweight planchet.

In my years grading modern quarters, the gap between an MS65 and an MS67 is usually strike and mark count—not rarity. For a type set, an MS65 or MS66 with a full strike can be far more satisfying than an MS67 with a soft rim. Buy the coin, not the label.

Budget vs. High-End Type Collecting: Two Honest Paths

Type collecting has room for the budget hunter and the high-end registry builder alike. The mistake is pretending they’re the same game. A budget type set is about completeness, eye appeal, and learning the coins in your hands. A high-end set is about condition rarity, certification, and liquidity. Both are legitimate. I’ve built both, and I’d tell anyone to start budget.

The Budget Path

• Source: Pocket change, bank rolls, dealer junk boxes, raw BU rolls. For modern quarters, a single BU roll can cough up several album-worthy examples.
• Cost: Face value to a few dollars a coin. Grading fees usually dwarf the numismatic value of a common modern quarter, so keep it raw.
• Strategy: Buy a roll, pick the best two or three, and return the rest to the bank. Work a 5x loupe and check every edge.
• Upgrade rule: Only replace a coin when the new one has a clearly better strike or fewer marks. Don’t upgrade for label fever.

The High-End Path

• Source: Certified MS67 or MS68 business strikes, and PF69 or PF70 proofs from PCGS or NGC. For modern issues, these often stay affordable next to classic rarities.
• Cost: Premiums stay modest on common dates, but they buy you liquidity and registry points. Pay for the strike and eye appeal, not just the grade.
• Strategy: Buy one high-end representative per type, not every date. For the Cumberland Gap quarter, a top-pop proof may be more interesting than a common MS67 business strike.
• Exit plan: High-end moderns can be tougher to sell than classic type coins. Buy what you love, but keep your receipts, provenance, and certification numbers.

My rule is simple: pour the bulk of your type-set budget into the keys and semi-keys, and stay budget-minded on common moderns. The 2016 Cumberland Gap quarter is a common modern. It doesn’t earn a high-end premium unless it’s a flawless certified example bound for a registry set. The spooned coin in that forum thread? It’s worth face value and a good story.

Authentication and Grading Markers for Altered Edges

I’ve eyeballed enough altered quarters to know the edge tells its story before the obverse ever does. Buying raw? Ask for edge photos, weight, and diameter. A seller swears it’s a Mint error? Require attribution from a major grading service. No attribution means treat it as PMD, full stop.

• Fine concentric lines: A telltale sign of abrasion, polishing, or mechanical edge treatment.
• Raised rim with smooth edge: The classic spooned or tapped look—often the first step in ring-making.
• Reduced diameter: Metal has been pushed inward. A broadstruck coin would be wider, never smaller.
• Uneven reeding: Missing in patches rather than uniformly gone. A true collar error would affect the entire edge.
• Distorted clad layers: On a clad quarter, the copper core and nickel layers should read as a clean, straight sandwich. Spooning smears or warps that line.
• Dryer damage: Often shows a raised rim, softened lettering, and a slightly reduced diameter. Still PMD—not a Mint error.

The thread sparked a spirited argument over whether a spoon could really leave an edge that smooth. In my experience, a spooned coin usually looks rougher than the example posted—but the process can be refined with smoothing and polishing. That doesn’t make it a Mint error. It makes it a post-mint alteration with a particular finish. My diagnostic order is simple: check for a broadstrike first, then look for edge abrasion, then weigh and measure. If the coin isn’t wider and plain-edged all the way around, the collar was never missing.

Practical Next Steps for Your Type Set

So you’re building a type set and a coin like this lands in your lap. Here’s exactly what I’d do:

1. Don’t submit it for grading. The fees will swamp the value, and the holder will just say “altered” or “damaged.”
2. Slap it in a 2×2 with an honest label. “2016-P Cumberland Gap quarter, spooned edge, PMD” turns it into a genuinely useful educational coin.
3. Buy a normal example for the Dansco hole. A raw BU business strike is plenty for most type sets.
4. Check the edge of every modern quarter you buy. A loupe and a small scale are cheap insurance.
5. Keep a want list. For the America the Beautiful series, decide whether you’re after one representative design or every issue. The album will tell you.

For sellers, the honest path is also the profitable one. A damaged coin sold as a curiosity finds a buyer. The same coin sold as an error torches your reputation. In the type-set world, reputation is everything.

Conclusion: The Best Type Coin Is an Honest One

The 2016 Cumberland Gap quarter is a genuinely interesting coin. It honors a gateway through the Appalachians that helped shape westward expansion, and it earns its place in a modern type set as a representative of the America the Beautiful series. But the coin in that forum thread is not a Mint error—it’s a post-mint alteration, and its real numismatic value lies in the lesson it teaches. Choose your type coins for their strike, their luster, and their honest eye appeal. Let provenance and mint condition guide the high-end slots, and let a little natural patina remind you these objects have lived. Fill the album with coins that tell the truth. That’s a collection you’ll be proud to hand down.