Which of the "Common Rarities" in U.S Numismatics is the Most Overpriced?

If this was a few years back, I would have said the 1932-D/S Washingtons. I remember seeing raw AGs selling for $100, Gs for double that. Thankfully the prices have come down a lot recently, since the end of the State Quarter series.

In addition to the 1909-S VDB, I'd also say the 1901-S Barber. Yes, it is pretty rare, but I think the price has been driven into absurdity. It's at a point where it has become unaffordable to all but a few collectors.

 

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I wonder to what extent the fact that many collectors seek the popular or 'common rarities' reduces some of the price-pressure from the truly scarce coins.

 

Also minor VAMs. I like collecting them and identifying them but there are so many dies and so many minor differences that I honestly find late date large cents easier to attribute.

 

Related Question: What is the most overpriced series?

 

Morgan dollars, hands down, no reasonable dispute.

 

No doubt it matters. I'm sure some popular rarities can be labelled as "too big to fail". The 1909-S VDB has so much date recognition that a lot of the demand is simply bragging rights.

 

Presidential Dollars.

 

... at face value.

 

The only place here in rural Kansas that seems to take them is the bank, and that's if they are snuck inside a mason jar of change!

 

I cannot figure out why this is the case.
The Morgan dollar isn't an attractive coin.

 

It’s the same guys who couldn’t stop dressing up as cowboys, complete with dual plastic six-shooters, when they were kids. Sorry Willie Nelson, but my heroes have never been cowboys.

 

But who will tell them that almost no Morgans were circulated in the Old West?

 

1878-81 maybe.

 

My vote is for the 1970-D Kennedy. Yeah, I know there weren't any examples minted for general circulation, but there are still a few million examples floating around. To me, the premium over melt is a tad unjustified, especially when you compare it to the price of the 1970-S. A few months back, I think I got a 1970 proof set off of Ebay for about $7, including shipping. Go figure!

 

Kennedy halves are much collected in parts of Europe, but ALL the NIFC ones are hard to find there.

 

I mightta half agreed ten years ago but today there are a lot fewer around. I'd be very surprised if there are even 1 1/4 million surviving and of these about 85% are now tarnished because they were left in min set packaging.

They have a couple dollars worth of silver in them and the wholesale price is only about $10.75

This doesn't seem overpriced to me.

 

Right. Why don't enlighten us since you think you know so much.

And in answer to the original question . . . NONE of them are "overpriced." They are just priced higher than you would be willing to pay. Does not mean they are priced higher than the owner wants to sell.



Now granted, the curves assume elastic supply . . . but for most of the coins you listed there are dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of potential sellers. It is a reasonable approximation.

 

There are many, MANY, M-A-N-Y coins, great coins, IMPORTANT coins, that have never been sent to a TPGS service, because they've been held by collectors since WAAAAAAAY before third party graders ever existed. They haven't been to an ANA, or a FUN, or a Central States, or a Baltimore Whitman, or a Long Beach, or an NYINC, ever. They are out there by the figurative gazillions. They are essentially "unknown" to the "coin market". Jeff Garrett doesn't know of them. Neither does Q. David Bowers. Neither does Rick Snow. Pick your favorite specialist. I see them on a constant basis. Most of them trade locally and are AGAIN lost to "the market". Some are bought by dealers with a wider reach.

If I had the working capital to bring them to the "show circuit", which I do not, I'd show you "fresh to the market" that would blow your socks off. They truly are "off the radar screen" coins, and their numbers are HUGE.

A few, an itsy bitsy tiny fraction of them, will find their way to Philly next month, but darned few.

It happens every time an ANA show comes to Pennsylvania. It happened in 2000, 2004, 2011, 2012, and it'll happen again in 2018, depending on how good the marketing of the show is. The Philly media market reaches 1/3 of the way across the state.

 

Learn that in Econ 101, did ya'? Except for counterfeits, all coin supply curves abruptly stop climbing gradually and go straight vertical at a Q called "the mintage". And demand curves for MANY collectibles can go "upside down", aka the "luxury goods" scenario, wherein higher prices INCREASE demand.

 

If they number in the gazillions and their numbers are HUGE, then they are not "IMPORTANT."