Sniped Again! There goes my S-143

I only had the S-76a and the S-183 when I started with CT.

 

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Wow that scale seems really off, as a lot of very valuable coins end up being just the same as common coins. Example: is an 1856 Flying Eagle the same rarity as a 1909 S VDB? Should both be considered the same rarity as a 2005-D Penny? According to the scale, all 3 are "R-1 common", yet the value of each one differs by several orders of magnitude.

Personally, I would consider ANY coin with a mintage even in the ten thousands as "rare", and any with mintages less than 100 as "legendary or extremely rare".

 

I have a 1988 D reverse 89 which as of now fewer than 12 are believed to have been found. It is listed as extremely rare by the Lincoln Resource site and is not attributed yet by PCGS nor NGC. ANACS recognizes this transition cent and mine was graded AU55. The ANACS pop report shows 1 AU40, 2 AU55, although I have been told that another collector has an ANACS AU58 ? I don't know where this is on the rarity scale, but have been told by the collector who has obtained 5 of the specimens (discovery pieces) that it is "scarce as hen's teeth".

gary

 

The scale is only for large cent varieties. For evereything esle under 1,000,000 is usually considered A semi-key, and under 500,000 a key

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I was looking for the scale on line for modern cents and was hitting a brick wall. Now I am not quite as stupid as I was ten minutes ago. Thank you

 

I have some Conder tokens that would be R-6 or better, up to two R-8's. In the US I have a lot of R-5+ and R-5's (45 of them) but only two R-6's. In the large cents except for the NC's there aren't very many R-6 coins left. Most of them have been reduced to R-5+ or R-5. My two R-6's are a 1797 S-121a and an 1802 NC-2. There are about 20 of each of them known now.

No the scale is right, the 1856 FE cent, SVDB, and a 2005-D cent would all be considered R-1 very common, in fact the SVDB and 2005-D cents would be R-1-. Do not confuse value with rarity, the two are only very loosely connected. Value is strongly connected to demand. Take the SVDB, this is truly a very common coin. If you want one you can pick up a coin magazine, call up a dealer, go to ebay, and have several to choose from. Go to even a small coin show and you will probably find several of them. Go to a LARGE show and you could probably put together a a few rolls of them. I seriously believe that if price was not a concern you could probably assemble a bag of them in a month. That's a 5000 coin bag. It's common. But there are a LOT of collectors of Lincoln cents and everyone wants one. That means a high demand and therefor a high price for a common coin. The 1856 FE cent is much rarer than the SVDB, but it is still relatively available. You probably won't find one at a small show, but you might find a dozen at a large one. They come up for auction all the time. But even though it IS much rarer than the SVDB it doesn't sell for a multiple equal to that rarity. Why? Because there is a much smaller collector base that wants one or needs one for their collection. That lower demand keeps the price from skyrocketing.

Now the high rarity large cents that we talk about are just that, rare. But the number of collectors that are chasing them is actually very small. The number of SERIOUS collectors of early date large cents by variety probably numbers around 200 people (out of maybe 600 or so total early date collectors). This is why an R-4 coin with 200 known really doesn't bring much if any premium. There are enough of them available for everyone who really wants one to have it, and they show up often enough that you don't have to bid high on one because another WILL come along. In any case it is demand not rarity that drives the value.

After you have collected early date large cents for awhile though rarity starts to make a difference to you. Whenever I have to choose between several coins, I will tend to rank rarity higher than condition or value. I will buy a lower grade rarer coin over a higher grade more common piece if the prices are the same or close. After all I will have more chances at the common coin again. I may never see the rare one again.

If you really want a rarity scale that will separate coins like the three you mention into different rarity levels do a google search for Universal Rarity Scale (URS). It provides a LOT more levels

 

Wow! I still show the S-121a as a solid R7 based on the Holmes catalog, but Breen's book lists 16 so R6 would be right. What I find amazing is that none of them are better than VG10 and only one is above G6. You have quite the coin there and 1797 at that.