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Originally Posted by mercury according to national dealer there is one minted double eagle from 1849, does it mean this is more rare than coin from the earlier 1800s |
As I stated earlier - it's hard to have a coin more rare than one with just 1 example. But there are many coins for which there is only 1 example. And it has nothing to do with how old it is or when it was made.
With some of these ultra-rarities - they only made just 1. In other cases there is today only 1 that is known to exists. And as Nd said - this can be for various reasons. Sometimes the coins were just lost - a shipwreck perhaps. Other times almost an entire mintage was later melted down. But most of these coins are not well known - again because they are not publicized.
A coin gets famous by being publicized and being sold. But with ultra-rarities - they may sometimes not be sold for 50 or 100 years. Instead they remain in the hands of one collector or his descendents.
Many people confuse rarity with value - they are not the same. It is not at all uncommon for a coin of much greater rarity to sell for far less than a coin which is much more common. This is because of supply and demand. The more people who want a particular coin - the more it cost. But with many coins of which there are only 1 - not many people even try to collect them or own them because they know there is only 1. Therefore there is very little or no market for these coins.
It may sound crazy - but it is much easier to sell a coin that numbers in the hundreds or thousands than it is to sell a coin for which there is only 1 example.
rarest coin? 
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