I would think the vast majority of those coins which Littleton acquired, in sealed Mint bags, didn't circulate and will (if submitted) grade much higher than MS65. I don't know about population figures for the circulation strike clad Ikes because I personally don't collect those. For my interestests, I'm working on a set of all 40% silver Ikes in MS and Proof in all grades from 65-69 (no 70s included) and these just in PCGS holders. I can tell you from what I have observed so far, that higher grades are certainly easier to come by and lower grades are more challenging as these modern coins haven't been submitted for grading in the same amounts as have finer examples. I suppose Danr wants others with access to population reports from the two TPGs he listed to look up the populations of MS65 non-40% Ike dollars and report back, so we'll see if and when someone can provide those details what the numbers currently say.
it looks like they are charging a lot for those (3X ebay prices) http://www.littletoncoin.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category7|10001|23051|-1|106821|2
Well that's to be expected, pretty much everyone knows about Littleton's mark up on what they sell, but at the same time, if they state a grade you can expect it to hit the mark.
they are NGC- so the grade is certified- are you saying that the littleton ngc ms65's are better than the ebay ngc ms65's?
No, I said only if Littleton assigns their own grade to a coin, it can be expected that a buyer will receive a coin that fits that grade without wiggle room according to consistent and rigorous grading standards they apply in their company. Obviously, if NGC states a grade on a label that is their opinion and a customer can agree or disagree. It doesn't matter where you are buying the slabbed NGC coin from, be it for sale on eBay, through Littleton, from another dealer or if the coin wss submitted by oneself to NGC. TPG grades though are often debated because of conflicting views about the coins skirting various lines from one grade to another. I don't see a lot of comparable debate over the grades Littleton assigns to coins they sell, but then again, most of the collectors on forums such as these are not acquiring their coins from that company due to their mark up, so there's not as much to debate there is there. If you see the same NGC graded coins in two places for significantly different prices then make sure to really compare the two coins and keep in mind that a coins appearance may not be as attractive as every other example of that same coin bearing the same grade from the same company, and therefore not all examples can (or should?) fetch the same price given eye appeal. That is, IF comparing two Ike dollars at MS65 in the same TPG holders with the same TPGs grade may look drastically different and one may attract more attention, sell for more, than the other even though they are technically the same grades and without dispute. But I don't know what this all has to do with populations of these coins so I hope not to tangent into a TPG discussion here nor one on the merits of either of these companies, Littleton and NGC.
