Hype is a 4 Letter Word................

.........which has been around for quite some time.

While perusing an October 1975 issue of Coin World, which has an interesting article on the new "Type 2" BiCentennial Eisenhower Dollars, I came upon the following advertisement:



I distinctly remember the "Hype" surrounding the 1975-S "Proof Only" Lincoln Cent! You see, in 1968, the US Mint reopened the San Francisco Facility to coin Cents and Nickels to pickup some of the coinage slack which existed (due to us bad boy coin collectors) in the mid-sixties. This created a new interest in Lincoln Varieties since the last year an S Mint Lincoln had been produced was in 1955! With renewed interest, many folks collected these new S Mint coins. The San Francisco Lincolns always commanded a slight premium over their Philadelphia and Denver Counterparts. Largely due to lower mintages and the fact that S mint coins seldom made it past the Rocky Mountains much less East of the Mississippi! However, by the time that 1975 rolled around, the perceived coin shortage had been satisfied and the circulation coinage presses in San Francisco were shut down.

Of course, this opened the doors for lots and lots of speculation and the Hype Machine got kicked into overdrive!

Lowest Mintage Since the 1931-S?
Scarce as the 1909-SVDB?

I expect that many went ahead and purchased these proof cents for the $9.50 asking price but as you all know, you'd be lucky to get $1.00 for one of them today.

Oh Well! You think the ATB S Mint Circulation Quarter folks are paying attention?

 

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I was 13-years-old in 1976, and I remember standing at a coin counter in Bon Marche with 20 dollars in my pocket, trying to decide whether I wanted a 76 proof set or a Morgan Dollar. Being a greedy kid, I naturally decided on the big old chuck of silver. In retrospect, I made the right decision.

 

The 1975-s proof set has almost double the mintage of the S-Mint ATB's. In today's market, 2.8M is way too many.

 

1.4 million is way too many! I wish people would stop associating mintage with value. The only time a low mintage kicks in is when the demand is very high.

Chris

 

True but then without missing the point, the coins were hyped. And many sold at that high price.

At the time the ad was printed, final figures hadn't been published but it would seem rather silly to think that the 1975 mintages would be lower than the 2.6 million 1974 Sets. Especially since it was the 1st year of the BiCentennial Coinage.

The whole point being that the "buy now/think later" formula for hyping coins is alive and well. Especially when mintage numbers are tossed around as if they actually mean anything.

 

Nope, the 1974-S business strike. 1955 was the last WHEAT CENT.

 

It's still a Lincoln Cent.

 

That was still a low price. Before the hype bubble around the 75-S cent collapsed it got up to the $25 to $28 range.

The San Francisco mint was pressed back into service in 1965 striking business strike cents through half dollars with no mintmark. Of course none of the mints were using mintmarks at that time.

And believe me HYPE goes back a lot further than the mid 1970's.

 

Mintage figures mean a lot. Look at all the prior circulating series and tell me mintage figures mean nothing. The highest prices go hand & hand with the lowest mintage figures.

 

1.4m is the mintage of the 1996w dime - what does it sell for $10 to $20? These ATB's will be many times more popular that roosevelt dimes. Low mintage is the most important thing - low mintage creates demand.

 

Hype is here to stay - it's the reason people pay crazy prices for high grade high mintage coins.

 

It's why they buy replica Gold Buffalo Coins(limit 5 per household).

 

I'll disagree.

HYPE creates Demand. Otherwise, my prototype Eisenhower with a mintage of 1 would be far more valuable than even I could imagine.

 

Finally, I think you and I can agree on something.

 

As one person on this board wisely said once, a mintage of 2 is too many if there's only one person that wants one.

Rarity does not equal value. Rarity relative to demand equals value. People too often forget that (or don't know it in the first place).

Hype can drive up the price in the short term, but in the long term it doesn't matter how "rare" something is if the supply still exceeds the demand (just ask beanie baby collectors). Eventually the S-minted business strike ATB quarters will be a dying fad desired by far less than 1.4 million collectors. You want to cash in on the fad, better do so quickly.

 

Lee, I'm pretty sure your prototype Eisenhower (with a mintage of 1) will be fought over heavily by collectors and heads of museums for lots more $$$ than you could imagine... Just might take a while; and you and I may not be here... But it will happen eventually :smile

 

Well.................but.....................but...............where the ****'s the fun in that????

 

...this thread for starters

 

Hype is generated by people for a variety of reasons. Some simply want to profit in the short-term by creating a sense of scarcity and the potential for long-term profit so that others will overpay for an item. Others simply get excited about coins and the hunt for something that not as many people have perhaps with the potential for long-term profit likely for their heirs. Nobody wants to be left out on the latest and greatest coin. TC

 

I can remember when the SF mint stopped minting circulation cents with the mintmark and the hype over the 1975-S, in the late 1970s they were selling for over $10 each and I really wanted one but never bought it. In fact I didn't bother to get one until maybe 5-6 years ago and paid... a buck for it. Kind of what I have done with other coins, ie the 1996-W dime and several commems. Wait until the hype drops off the cliff and then buy them.