Howdydoo

Hi all.

Recently I have been working on my key dates for a few different series. I see it is going to take awhile. But I have nothing but time. I understand the factors that are involved in a coin being a key date (my compliments to all the posts and replies on this site, facinating reading btw), but how is the coin actually labeled a key date? Is there one person that says this is a key date or is it the general concensus of the hobby that is incorporated over time. Could I label a coin that I think should be a key date, because of one factor or another, and over time many people start calling it a key date coin will it then be considered a key date? I hope this isn't to confusing. I look foward to your replies. Thanks

Midas

Mintage numbers, survival numbers and market demand all contribute to determining value for any of our coins. Keep in mind, you only have a given number of coins (99% of the time unless the U.S. Treasury finds a bunch of Morgans like they did in 1962) for a growing population of collectors.

You can have a coin with very little mintage numbers, but if nobody wants or collects a particular coin, then it really isn't designated as a "key".

All things being equal, "keys" are those coins in a given series that are more rare, more demanded, and way more costly then the other common coins in a particular series (i.e. Morgans, Lincolns, Buffalo nickels,etc.). Look no further than a Red Book and see what the value is for a given coin in VG condition and see how your particular coin measures up against other coins from differant years and mint marks.

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“It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.” - John Wooden

YNcoinpro_U.S.

Not confusing at all. I perfectly understand what you are asking and I must say that it is interesting.

The way I think most people call key dates "Key dates" is because of the low populations of the coin existing. If that coin is difficult to locate then, I think it is a key date. I believe that it is a general consensus in the hobby of what is and what is not a key date. I know of many semi-keys that I believe should get the key date persona. Some key dates, like you mentioned, do become key dates over time. I believe it was the 1903-O or 1903-S Morgan dollar that was considered the rarest coin in the series, but then the US Trreasury realesed tons of MOrgans onto the market creating an influx in rare and non rare coins. Today, most all of the early federal U.S. coins are becoming varietized (JR, Browning...) and these census are making varieties key dates of themselves thus creating a new market.

This is how I perceive how a key date becomes a "Key Date".

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Collecting the first fifty years of U.S. coins 1793-1843. All denominations and all grades.

Howdydoo

Thanks Midas and YN

So labeling a coin a key date coin is not officially labeled by the ANA or any other entity it is more or less adopted by the collecting community as a whole.
To me availibility and collectability seem to be a driving force in designating a coin as a key date. So it be safe to say that as more and more people begin to collect that we can see some new dates becoming key dates. Again thanks

Troodon

Nope... there's no official governing body that decides what is and is not key, it's just the general consensus of the collecting community as a whole. Basically any coin that has very high demand in proportion to its availability ends up being considered a key.

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My paper money collection- updated constantly!