I've been part of this forum for over 2 years and I keep on seeing the term "Key Date." Can somebody shine light onto what this means?
In coin collecting, a key date refers to a date (or date and mint mark combination) of a given coin series or set that is harder to obtain than other dates in the series. The next level of difficult to obtain coins in series are often referred to as semi-key dates or simply semi-keys.
To add to the above good answers, key dates can often times be attributed to transitional years like the Indian to Lincoln cent series. And also to re-designs such as the Buffalo nickel Type 1 & 2 and the Standing Liberty quarter with the breast being covered. In the case of the Buffalo nickel the relief was changed due to premature wear of the date and mintmark.
