how rare?

They are not rare at all really. Large numbers of them are available for sale at any given time.

Rare is a word that too many people use too often when talking about coins. It means different things to different people - but I could not use it when talking about a coin with thousands or tens of thousands of examples readily available. Some folks think a coin with less than 100 examples is rare. To others - it is less than 10.

That's why they have developed what they call rarity scales. There are many different rarity scales developed by different people. Some only go up to 4 - some to 8 and others to 20. And each number has a different meaning as to how many examples are known.

 

Here's some examples of some of the better known rarity scales -

The Sheldon Rarity Scale -

R-1 Common
R-2 Not So Common
R-3 Scarce
R-4 Very Scarce (population est at 76-200)
R-5 Rare (31-75)
R-6 Very Rare (13-30)
R-7 Extremely rare (4-12)
R-8 Unique or Nearly So (1,2 or 3)


The Universal Rarity Scale -

URS-0 None known
URS-1 1 known, unique
URS-2 2 known
URS-3 3 or 4 known
URS-4 5 to 8 known
URS-5 9 to 16 known
URS-6 17 to 32 known
URS-7 33 to 64 known
URS-8 65 to 125 known
URS-9 126 to 250 known
URS-10 251 to 500 known
URS-11 501 to 1,000 known
URS-12 1,001 to 2,000 known
URS-13 2,001 to 4,000 known
URS-14 4,001 to 8,000 known
URS-15 8,001 to 16,000 known
URS-16 16,001 to 32,000 known
URS-17 32,001 to 65,000 known
URS-18 65,001 to 125,000 known
URS-19 125,001 to 250,000 known
URS-20 250,001 to 500,000 known



GEORGE FULD RARITY SCALE FOR TOKEN COINS

RARITY ESTIMATED NUMBER IN EXISTENCE
R - 1 Greater than 5000 (Relatively Common)
R - 2 2001 to 5000
R - 3 501 to 2000
R - 4 201 to 500
R - 5 76 to 200
R - 6 21 to 75
R - 7 11 to 20
R - 8 5 to 10
R - 9 2 to 4
R - 10 1 Only



This list of rarity scales goes on almost forever. For just about every nation and every time period - there is a rarity scale for the coinage. But the first two are the ones most often used for US coinage.

 

Actually Sylvester the Seaby & Rayner book uses 12.

C3 - Extremely common
C2 - Very Common
C - Common
N - Normal neither scarce nor common
S - Scarce
R - Rare
R2 - Very Rare
R3 - Extremely Rare
R4 - Only 11 - 20 examples known
R5 - Only 5 - 10 examples known
R6 - Only 3 - 4 examples known
R7 - Only 1 - 2 examples known


And I may as well post some others while I'm at it


Rarity as defined by Scholten in Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories

Scholten Description
C Common
N Normal
S Scarce
R Rare
RR Very Rare
RRR Extremely Rare
RRRR Of the utmost rarity


Michael Marsh in his book The Gold Sovereign

Marsh Description
R4 15 to 25 examples known
R5 9 to 14 examples known
R6 4 to 8 examples known
R7 Highest rarity known


Andrew Pollock in his book US Patterns

R1 over 1250 examples known
R2 500 to 1250 examples known
R3 201 to 500 examples known
R4 76 to 200 examples known
R5 31 to 75 examples known
R6 13 to 30 examples known
R7 4 to 12 Highest rarity known
R8 2 or 3 examples known


As I say - there are many, many rarity scales. It would almost take a book of its own to list them all.

 

Gee thanks Roy That's all I need - one more thing I have to write