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Message:: [QUOTE="Ed Sims, post: 1938640, member: 59688"]The 1854-O quarter is another example of value greatly exceeding its true rarity. I purchased an 1854-O with the normal O mint mark and then discovered the huge O variety. Out of curiosity I searched the internet to see what the proportion of the Huge O was to the normal O which were for sale anywhere. The results shocked me. In a one month period I found none of the normal O in any grade for sale anywhere online and a lot of the huge O's on several dealers' websites and eBay. I asked Gerry Fortin about this and I was informed that many years ago a dealer acquired a number of the Huge O, and then marketed it rather successfully as a very rare variety driving the price way up. Will the price adjust downward as it should given the Huge O is actually not rare at all? No, too many dealers and collectors have too much money invested in this variety to be willing to take a significant loss. So they keep up the hype to maintain the current price levels. I am quite pleased that my AU normal O 1854 quarter is truly a much more difficult coin to find than its supposedly rare counterpart the Huge O.[/QUOTE]