Before you start a collection, make sure it's collectible...

Case in point. I fell in love with the 3-cent silvers. I didn't want to play the finest known game (I knew that was out of my price range), so I aimed for XF.

Across the five grading services, there are coins to choose from between 1851 and 1862. Totals of 100 -> 300 for each date/mintmark. The most difficult turns out to be 1857, with just 106 graded XF40 or XF45.

Including a few raw ones I had graded myself, that's a doable set.

Now, feeling my oats, I started looking for 1863->1872. I knew this would be a long term project. The mintages were low (between 1,000 and 22,000 each year). I even kind of knew the survival estimates were low (100 to 800 pieces).

I didn't check the TPG populations.

Across the ten years, there are a total of 131 graded XF...

ooopsie...

The toughest to find graded is the 1863 with just 2 pieces (oddly, the 375 surviving of 460 minted made it easier to find in Proof 60). The next hardest is the 1865 with just 3 graded pieces.

The most plentiful is the 1870 with 22 graded pieces out of a mintage of 3,000, with 500 estimated to survive.

 

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Most narrow collectable source. Are you sure it's worth doing? Gonna be buck-R-roos.

 

I think that the 3 centers are interesting coins. When I first found one detecting, I thought it was a small foreign coin until my friend shouted out, "You %$^&^%$! Lucky guy!" They are so small and thin, I'm surprised I located it. I can't imagine being very popular back in the day. Here's my 1856....( I really need to re-shoot because it has toned now.

 

That's the problem I reached with my Prooflike Typeset. I knew that it would eventually become an issue, but when I started there was enough available that it wasn't a problem. I reached 50-60% complete and ran out of material. The rest is either too expensive or doesn't exist.

I'm super proud of what I've got (more than almost anyone else), but I can't really grow my collection without large funds, and some of it just doesn't exist.

The other problem is, in the 15 years I've been collecting PL type... the price of what does exist has exploded!

 

And now the reveal...



Pop 1, 129 higher (and 1 @ PCGS XF40, 1 XF40 at NGC)

https://www.pcgs.com/cert/58770321

With the exception of 2 "I'll settle for proof (for now)" and 1 "ANACS AU53", that finishes the set...



That yellow blob has irritated me for years... especially after scoring the 1864 last year.

 

The Silver Three Cent Piece pretty much becomes uncollectable as business strikes starting with the 1863. The limited business strike mintages from 1863 to 1872 were never issued. Most of them were melted. Only the Proof coins made it out of the mint in any collectable quantities. This is one instance where the Mint State coins are rarer than the Proof coins.

When I was a dealer I handled a couple of Mint State pieces from the 1860s. They sold almost as soon as I offered them.

 

Well, I **have** collected them, but I didn't have a clue how difficult it would be when I started...