Hello cointalk forum I know 1916-d merc is high demand. 1916-d vs half dime from 1863 to 1867 1916-d merc is 264,000 mintage vs half dime 1863 to 1867 average 8,000 to 88,000 mintage. 1916-d is winner top so soar price than any rare half dime. I see ebay 1916-d so many list about 75 list. 1863 to 1867 half dime almost nobody list on ebay Thank you for stop look
Now this probably isn't going to seem like it makes sense, but it is how it works. First of all there is the popularity factor. The 1916-D Merc is extremely popular. The 1863 Half Dime is not popular at all. The reasons for the popularity, or lack thereof, are many. But one of the biggest reasons is that there are countless articles written about the supposed rarity of the '16-D Merc. You can find them without even looking for them. But just try to find an article about the 1863 Half Dime. You're gonna be hard pressd to do so. Another reason is the cost for the coin. High dollar value brings lots of articles, lots of people talking about them. Low dollar value and nobody notices. It's not news. The '16-D Merc in MS64 is a $20,000 coin. The 1863 Half Dime in MS64 cost $1000 or less. And as you hav already noted the mintage of the half dime is but about 1/3 of that of the Merc. And there are far, far fewer '63 Half Dimes that have been graded by NGC & PCGS than there are '16-D Mercs. 537 '16-D Mercs vs 141 '63 Half Dimes. And that is in all grades. What this shows you is that not very many half dimes still exist. And that's where the other factor comes into play - the one that really doesn't make sense - until you stop and think about it. You see for a coin to become popular and thus deserve a high price there has to be enough of them to go around - enough to make a market in that coin. There has to be enough that a large percentage of the people who want one - can have one. If they are willing to pay the money of course. And the more people there are that want one, the more it costs. But if there are not enough of them to go around, not enough to make a market, then people know this. And they will not even try to find one, they consider it a waste of time because they know that only a few exist - which means they can't have one. So it is actually quite common for coins of much greater scarcity/rarity to cost less than coins that exist in much higher numbers. Like I said, it doesn't make sense - but that's how it is.
Amen. Nailed. GD, I'm impressed. <icon of smiley guy "I am not worthy" bowing up&down> These are the common man's "rare" coins. There will always be the people with massive disposable income (or so they think) who buy the one of five existing examples of whatever for 1.2 million (or whatever). But I think my goal (and perhaps yours and many other CT members) is to own a 16D or a 32S Washington or even a '21 mercury (if you're on a tight budget). If the half-dime isn't popular now, it's quite unlikely that it'll be popular 20 years from now when you want to sell it. You don't have to go back to the 1800's for low mintage. The 1950 proof set had a mintage of 51,000 or so. But they're just NOT that popular! And there are dozens of other examples.
Awfully good answer I will add one point,,, Awfully good answer I will add one point,,, - if you set up at a show and I do and you have 4 1916-D's in good and one half dime in AU the half dime will be sitting there a year from now and the 16-D's will be long gone and you will wish you had more! At any show there are dozens of people wanting, or needing the 16-D's and maybe only one wanting the half dime. But the OP is doing a very valuble thing here and that is to study the different odd things in numismatics such as this - these will pay off big time down the road
bhp: Um...... What is the date on that half dime? J/K And yes, I look for low mintage seated stuff. Love it.
Sometimes when you find low mintage low collectors appeal coins, you can buy them at a slight discount so willing are the sellers to get rid of them even at a discounted price. But even AG-3 16-d mercs or G-4 1909 s vdb still get full price. Sometimes it may not seem fair, but it is the way the hobby continues to go.
I think it makes perfect sense. Another major factor - is a given series collected by date/mint, or only for type ? Very few people collect half dimes by date/mint. Most folks only want one as a type coin. Thus the demand (type collectors) is diluted by a large supply (the sum of all dates), so the cost is low and keys are price-depressed. The mintage of any individual date is less relevant because few people see the coin as a rare date, but rather as a common type. This is true for many, many coin types, including most US Gold. Of course, there are many Mercury collectors by date / mint, so a low mintage issue encounters much price pressure as collectors seek to fill that last hole.
That's exactly right. Nailed it. That's the #1 reason to NOT search for "sleepers". If it's sleeping now, it will likely sleep for a long, long time. Of course, there are a few exceptions I suppose.
It suggests that few half dimes exist, but there's more to it. Since the half dimes are worth less, fewer people submit low grade half dimes, thus artificially deflating the half-dime pop census numbers. Compared to the '63 h10c, I suspect a higher percentage of surviving '16-Ds have been certified.
