Why the value of some cents?

I started collecting coins over 4 decades ago. I started with wheat pennies and moved to Indian Head cents and later other coins. I've often wondered about the value of a few cents. Why is the 1877 Indian Head worth almost double the 1909S despite the much lower mintage of the 1909S? Why the high value of the 1914D and the much lower value of the 1931S even though the 31S has a lower mintage? Did we lose a bunch of 77 and 14D cents to melt or something and left more of the 09S and 31S's in circulation and eventually with collectors? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

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Some thoughts:
At the time of the 1877 Indian cent, there wern't many collectors in the US, besides, at the time it was not an especially low mintage (see Seated quarters of the 1880's).
Then the 1909 S came out: 1st cent with a mintmark, and the last year of the Indians.
So, they were more heavily saved.

As for the 1914 D, again, not an unusually low mintage of the time (See the Barber quarter 1913 S, with 40,000 minted.) And it was in the middle of the series, the excitement of the early Lincolns had worn off.

In 1931 the S mintage was immediately found to be a very low mintage, most were saved, in fact, I have heard stories of bags of uncs that were put away.

 

Thanks Treasurehunter. I've always wondered why they had higher value despite the lower mintage.

 

As for the 1877, I believe it was Rick Snow who stated that only two obverse dies and one reverse die (shallow N) are attributable to this date. The estimated die life for this period is around 200k, if memory serves. The mint's figure of 852,000 and what actually hit the streets are very likely vastly different numbers.

 

Thanks Hawk. Why would the mint claim a mintage of 852K if they distributed only a portion of that total? I didn't think that they counted coins that were melted prior to distribution.

 

There was speculation as to whether there may have been more than one reverse die, however only one is known. Also, I believe that Rick Snow speculated there may have been some 1876 dies used; which may have been added into the released mintage figure. My IHC book is loaned out at present; otherwise I would look up what he mentioned.

 

Good question Phil, the Rick Snow book mentioned is "A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents" Author Richard Snow, by Whitman Publishing. I highly recommend this book for the detail facts it contains as well as for the easy readabiltiy. A book you will refer to over and over.

 

Here is the part of the book that your referring to. I quoted it and copied it word for word. I'm Quoting page 136-136 "A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents" by Richard Snow. Great book and very interesting coin for sure. Talking about the 1877 coin of course.

 

This was extremely interesting. You've convinced me to buy Mr. Snow's book.

 

It is a good book. Each date is discussed along with some key varieties and optimal collecting condition. I recommend it also.