Mintage versus rarity

I understand what you're saying Jeff, but the quote directly above is the answer in a nutshell.

As for your comment about the definition of popular, well, that's usually the reason for disagreement in a nutshell. You can pick almost any word you want, use it to express yourself, and somebody else will say but that means such and such, and the person who used the word will say, no that's not what I meant at all. So why does this happen ? Simple, because just about everybody has all kinds of different kinds of personal definitions for just about all words.

So what is the definition of popular ?

pop·u·lar
/ˈpäpyələr/
adjective
1.
liked, admired, or enjoyed by many people or by a particular person or group.

And this -

Definition of popular
1: of or relating to the general public
2: suitable to the majority: such as
a: adapted to or indicative of the understanding and taste of the majority
a popular history of the war
b: suited to the means of the majority : INEXPENSIVE
sold at popular prices
3: frequently encountered or widely accepted
a popular theory
4: commonly liked or approved
a very popular girl

Synonyms for popular

big, crowd-pleasing, du jour, faddish, faddy, fashionable, favorite, happening, hot, in, large, modish, pop, popularized, red-hot, vogue, voguish

And then there's this -

In sociology, popularity is how much a person, idea, place, item or other concept is either liked or accorded status by other people. Liking can be due to reciprocal liking, interpersonal attraction, and similar factors. Social status can be due to dominance, superiority, and similar factors.

And when you're talking about coins, the above kind of explains it. But if you want to put it another way, you can use the same comparison you did - the '16-D and the '16-P to determine which is more popular.

Ask a group of collectors: if you have a choice between the '16-D and the '16-P, both equal in condition, which one would you choose ?

How many do you think are gonna choose the P ?

When it comes to coins, that's the definition of popularity.

 

Market Demand = big, crowd-pleasing, du jour, faddish, faddy, fashionable, favorite, happening, hot, in, large, modish, pop, popularized, red-hot, vogue, voguish - popularity

 

No, that's not what I'm trying to do at all. But I'll admit I forgot to mention an assumption I was making in my comment. That being the coins aren't free and that those choosing could afford either one. And if they can afford it, they'll still go for the '16-D.

But I can give you another example. Let's say the choice is between a '16-D and a '42/1. The '42/1, (D or P), is pretty expensive, but the '16-D cost about twice as much as the '42/1 does. However, there are roughly twice as many '16-D as there are '42/1.

So why does the '16-D cost twice as much as the '42/1 that is twice as rare ?

Answer - popularity. There is no other answer.

This same thing is true of many different coins in many different denominations. Coins of the same type, with a much higher degree of rarity cost fractions of what the ones that are most popular cost. And as long as collectors can afford it, they'll still choose the most popular coins. Not because they are worth more, but in spite of them being so expensive.

 

Not exactly. Those P mint dimes you mentioned, there's demand for those, there's demand for all of the others (common coins) too. But given how many common coins sell, and it's a whole lot, it would be hard, and inaccurate, to say there isn't much demand for them. But rather that there is a whole lot of demand for them ! But the prices are still low even though there is a whole lot of demand.

But popular coins, the expensive ones, how many of them sell ? Not many, it's only a fraction of the number of common coins that sell. So it would be pretty easy, and accurate, to say there is no where near the amount of demand for them (the popular coins) that there is for the common coins.

This is why I say demand isn't the same thing as popularity. You can have demand and still get low prices. But if you want high prices, you've got to have popularity. And scarcity, supply, low availability, has little to do with it. This is proven by the fact that coins with many times the rarity (of popular coins), but that are not popular, do not bring those high prices.

You can call it supply and demand all ya want, but it's just not as accurate as it could be, there's a better word. And that word is popularity. Popularity describes something that demand simply doesn't.

 

And that's not just my opinion. You can look at the definitions -
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demand

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/popular

And you can look at the synonyms -
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/demand

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/popularity

They simply aren't the same thing.