I was at a coin auction and a Lincoln cent dated 1931-S went for over $80. I was blown away as I never knew this semi'key date brought in so much cash. Are all US coins dated 1931-S worth more than other coins? Can anyone answer why 1931 is a semi-key date?
I am confused. Just what is it that blew you away - a Lincoln, a 31-S, or the $80? The 31-S is the second rarest Lincoln out there and from the price, I would guess that it was not in the worlds best shape.
pardon my ignorance, rlm, but I thought that the prices on the 31-S were relatively flat. Isn't that the case?
For circulated 31-S's, they run from about $70 to about $150. Including normal bounce, that is about the flattest I know of especially when you consider that is from maybe AU+ to VG or better (that is about as low as they get). I know of nothing else that even approaches being that flat.
Sold one at a show today in a PCGS VF-35 holder for $120........I was glad to get that. The market was soft, and this is the flatest date like RLM says, maybe just below the 09-vdb.....
I realize that the 1931s has the second lowest mintage, but is it really the second "rarest"? Given the economic events of the early '30s, I suspect there are more surviving 1931s's than there are of...say, 1914d's.
Actually, considering the low mintage, I think the 1931-S is a pretty good deal. It was widely known that it was going to be a key date early enough, so many were saved in high grades. That's probably the reason it is so reasonable in uncirculated grades.
I meant to say second lowest mintage. As for survival today, you are probably right, but there are a lot of 14-D's out there in VG or lower condition.
I think it depends where you draw the line. For me, the Lincoln set (including no errors, proofs, or conditional rarities) has only 2 key dates...those being the 1909-S VDB and the 1914-D. All the others rarer dates are semi-keys in my mind. Those including (but not limited to): 1909-S, 1924-D, and 1931-S. I might also consider the S minted coins from 1910-1915 semi-key to a certain degree.
Except that lowest mintage only tells half of the story -- the other half is "how many of them were saved" (as well as: how much of demand is there) And so, the real "key" to what a "key date" is, is: the lowest number of available coins in that series". And, again, combined with demand. There may be some series that have some mintages that are low, but nobody cares, because most don't collect that series. Hmm . . . I might not be explaining it too well . . . does it make sense?
Sort of exactly true. Everyone uses that statement of key date and so many have little idea of what it does, should, could mean For value examples, such as that 31S, is a key dated coin only due to the amount minted. However, in 1931, many coins had low mintages and many people knew that so they got hoarded to the point of most have little to very little value for thier age. Note that 31S in the highest grades is only a few hundred dollars. The 1931D too is less than 4 1/2 Million and almost no value at all. Although the Indian/Buffalo Nickel is very popular, the 31S there too is of real low mintage and just not what you would think for value. Same with Mercury Dimes. The 31D there is the 4th lowest mintage in the entire series and just no value for that amount. Oddly enough the 31S is valued as more than the 31D and hundreds of thousands more minted. Contrary to that if you could find a Standing Liberty Quarter from 1931 from any mint you would really, really have a super key date. Same with the Half Dollars. You would think that since the depression was still in it's hight, no one would be hoarding coins.
I will take all of those "no value" 31-D's you can spare. At 64 RD the 31-D and S are equal in price and at 65 and 66 the 31-D is essentially twice the value of the 31-S. Even the 66RB for the 31-D is twice the 31-S.
