Am I missing any? Are any incorrect? I am defining "common" by "which are the cheapest". This roughly translates into mintage numbers, but is also heavily (?) affected by survival rate and the number of coins that have been graded by TPGs. Some are borderline "common"; please help me identify which should stay on the list and which should go. Thanks. 1908 No Motto 1911-D 1914-S 1914-D 1915-S (* ADDED *) 1922 1923 1923-D 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928
Hi dougmeister, what is your Intention? Common in MS? Common in MS65 onwards? Common in all Grades? The list differs widely after answering these three questions. The 1923 is a widely available issue for examle,but in MS65 scarce.
The most common coin is the issue of 1924, then 1927,1928 and 1908 NM. Furthermore 1922 and 1925. Please add the 1915 S....it's a quite common coin.
Thanks for the clarifying questions. The answer is: "Common in MS; probably can't afford MS65, so MS63 or MS64."
Thanks. On a tangent... how would the list change if it were specifically for MS65? * Remove the 1923 * ... others deleted? * ... others added?
Thank you for bringing up a point that I forgot to mention. Is it generally agreed that those are the "best struck" dates, regardless of grade?
According to Akers, here is the ranking from most-to-least common based on MS-65 or higher: 1924 1927 1908 NM 1928 1925 1922 1926 1923 1714-S 1915-S 1907 Arabic 1911-D 1923-D 1914-D 1910-D 1910 (tie with 1909-S) 1909-S 1920 1916-S 1911-S 1908-D NM 1907 High Relief 1913-D 1910-S 1912 1908-D Motto 1911 1913 1908 Motto 1914 1915 1909 1913-S 1908/8 1922-S 1926-S 1924-D 1924-S 1909-D 1925-D 1925-S 1908-S 1929 1926-D 1927-S 1931-D 1932 1931 1920-S 1921 1930-S 1927-D 1933
Roger Burdette's Saint-Gaudens book has an interesting take on strike quality. Basically, well-struck dates are those that didn't exhibit as much die wear.....had well-aligned hubs...planchet quality....die alignment...consistency of striking pressure. Lots of information in the book about production and die varieties among Saints; maybe the book is worthy of it's own separate thread.
