Your Rarest RAREST Coin of All Time.. All Time!

You may have seen this one in the World & Ancient Forum.
Probably between 3-5 exist and I think this one may be the finest of them all so it also is of the the highest "condition rarity"

Read more about it here:
http://www.cointalk.com/t76543/

 

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Are you in charge of the numismatic dictionary these days because those are not the accepted definitions. These come from Heritage's glossary:

Rare

1. A relative term indicating that a coin within a series is very difficult to find.
2. A coin with only a few examples known.
3. A term sometimes applied to all coins of numismatic value (as in: Rare Coin Dealer).

Rarity The total number of extant specimens of a particular numismatic item. Condition rarity describes the number of specimens in a particular grade plus any in higher grades.


Scarce in my experience is used to define a degree of rarity in between common and rare.

 

Lehigh,


read this quote. It is obvious that he thinks rare and valuable is the same, which is why we were trying to help him understand the difference between the two.

No offense, but it seems that you think that a coin can't be rare without being valuable also.

stainless

 

I was referring to US coins and stated so in my post. In general, the prices of ancients must be lower because the number of collectors is far less than that of US coins. Since I have no knowledge of the ancient coin market, I am afraid that I cant speaking intelligently on the subject of either rarity or price related to ancient coins.

 

With all due respect,

I understand the difference between the two.

But again, that's not what the thread is about.

I know that there are low minted coins with little demand.

However, that's not what I'm even wanting to cover here.

I just want to go over the dreams of coin enthusiasts and what coins they find the rarest and would love to own. I'm talking holy grail of coins here. Something that is just so rare it can't help but be valuable.

 

I certainly understand the difference between rarity and value. However, I don't know of any truly rare US coin that is not also valuable. I certainly don't know of any rare US coin priced under $500.

 

I don't know everything, that's why I refer to the experts, whom I echoed in my definitions. If you don't believe me, ask someone you know is qualified. I believe most of them would agree with me. Auction websites that regularly use the term in listings might not be the best place to find the definition of said term. I think a third party might be a better source of information.

 

But why put a $500 minimum on it then? my avatar coin IS my dream/holy grail coin that I was luckily to find by mistake. (actually, my dream coin would be the reverse brockage of this coin, but as far as I know, none exist, so it can't be my holy grail). And it isn't THAT valuable, price wise.

But, even sticking to your budget...the only other example of this sold for over $1,000. So, my another point of mine is, if it is rare, it would really be worth what someone would pay for it (and I don't think it is worth close to $1,000, but the auction for that particular example said different).

stainless

 

I think I have the hang of what BNB is looking for at this point.

Since I don't have to own it, I will say the 1927 Buffalo Nickel Special Strike. There's only five of them (Lange's book shows a population of 7 but PCGS says the mintage is 5) and one actually sold this year for a tad over $47,000. There's got to be a great story behind these coins and at least Lange's book has no definite explanation.

As a runner-up, I would say the 1917 Buffalo Nickel proof. Neither PCGS nor NGC has yet to certify a single one although Walter Breen apparently certified at least seven of them. Now if one of those ever does get certified, it would fetch an interesting price!:loud:

 

I'm talking more in generalities and common assumptions over those fine case examples you bring to the table. More or less, very rare coins go for over $500.
Hey, when you're dealing with hundreds of people on a forum, you need to put these minimums because if you don't, not to say bad coins will come, but those true holy grails that make us all stop and say "wow" won't come in as much. At least that's my take on it.

Hey, folks, Illini420 gave me a great idea for a future thread. That is, demand is huge. There is the reverse proof gold eagle that with a mintage of 10,000, but the 95-W Silver eagle(mint 30,000) overtakes it in demand(especially on ebay) because more collectors collect silver eagles than they do gold eagles, and they need a 95-w to complete their collection.

Cool stuff, huh? Man, am I learning like crazy here! I love it!

 

BNB,

I already gave you my coin which was the $50 Gold Panama-Pacific Octagonal. Another really good choice would be the 1792 Disme which is aesthetically far superior to the more famous 1792 Half Disme. Here is a photo:

 

The thing is, you don't "run a thread." You may have started it and that's fine, but you don't own the thread. It's on a public board. The problem here was, the initial post wasn't clear...and by the time everyone had figured out what the intent was, an argument had broken out. Nobody is telling you how "run a thread," we were trying to make a point about rarity and value. Had you simply stated that you wanted to know what our dream coin was...no matter if we owned it or not, that would have been an easy thread to respond to.

You are right, price typically is an indicator or rarity...but it isn't always. With US coins, there are few truly rare coins that are under $500 (I can't even think of one off hand, maybe none exist)...you are right. But, this thread wasn't restricted to US only coins.

 

That is a beautiful coin and is much more attractive than it's more famous sibling for sure. :thumb:

 

Well, I may not own the thread, but anyone of us who starts a thread does steer the ship inside that thread(or at least tries to for the most part). I may not be the owner of it, but I surely think I set the focus of it or why would it be there.

Anyway, we got our points clear off our chest, let's get back to this awesome display of affairs! I honestly didn't see this thread going as well as it has been lately, and I'm generally an optimist and boy do I love to see people producing with their thoughts! I can see some of you are just so darn passionate about your holy grails that maybe we should all pool some money together and get them! haha jk.

 

You should get a job as the White House press secretary!

 

I don't believe you and I am qualified so I don't need to ask anybody. I hope you don't mind that I find the definitions on Heritage's website more credible than some guy on a coin forum.

If you don't want to accept that, maybe you PCGS's definition found in THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO COIN GRADING AND COUNTERFEIT DETECTION will do.

rare: A general term, often overused, to describe the availability of a particular coin. Truly rare coins usually have fewer than 50 to 75 specimens known; however, the term often is used to describe a coin such as the 1856 Flying Eagle cent, of which several thousand examples exist.

Where in that definition does it mention mintage?

 

Several members have done a great job of trying to trash this thread.
What started off to be a really cool thread is now filled with pages of garbage.
Great job folks.

 

It doesn't necessarily mean it has a low mintage, it just means that few exist. The 1933 double eagle is a good example. A mintage of over 400,000, yet 11 are known in private hands. Scarce means many exist, but they are hard to find.

 

Hey Ldhair,

Listen, I know you seem to feel a bit disenfranchised right now by how things were in this thread, but I believe this ship is on its way to pulling out of ice and back on course. I think we're doing a great job moving forward and some of these pictures and wants that some of you have are just awe inspiring.

I'm curious to see what you value as your rarest coin..if I didn't already miss it.

 

You're right on that one.

BNB, why not make another thread just like this one (just word it clearly). That way, the thread can be just about what you think it should be. If you do, I promise I will not post anything but coins in the thread, and I'm sure all the others will do the same.