Here is a thought which has made me do a double take on numerous occasions. Why's there such a price disparity between populations of coins of the same series. Look at the 1926-S and 1931-D Mercury Dimes. There were 1,520,000 minted in 1926 and only 1,260,000 minted in 1931, only 30,000 more than the lauded 1921!!! I know about the surviving number thing but also have noticed the price of the 31-D has gone up in all grades over the past year. I think the 1931-D is a great buy in VF and acquiring a couple at this time may turn out to be a good investment. Another coin which this applies to the the 1927 Peace dollar which had a total mintage of less than a million at 848,000, the second lowest of the series. This compared to the 1921 which had a mintage of 1,006,473. Again, I think the 1927 is a good buy in VF or better. There are many others but what are your thoughts Bone
I certainly understand your comments - but it's a bit more complicated than just considering the mintage and/or populations. When it comes to price what it boils down to is availability in a given grade. In most grades the '28 Peace is the most expensive. But in some of the higher grades other date/mint mark coins are even more expensive than the '28 in the same grade. That's because you simply can't find the coins for that date mm in that grade. In other words - they don't exist except in very small numbers. The same is true in most cases like this.
Thank You Sir, for your input. Many folks want to comment but are inclined not to do so "Yanking the rag off the bush"so-to-speak has always been my hallmark bone
All too many people think grade rarity is a phenomena associated with modern coins only - but it isn't at all. Grade rarity exist with coins of all ages - even the ancients. Problem is most folks don't consider it unusual with older coins because they expect the older coins to be hard to find in higher grades and they don't balk at the prices even a little bit. And that's partly because most people associate value with age - the older it is, the more it should be worth. But the reality of it is that many older coins are as common as the moderns - there really is no rarity - except in certain grades. Now don't take me wrong here - certainly there are rare coins. But truly rare coins are very few and far between. Most of the coins that the average collector considers rare are actually very common.
A coin that I can think of that are hard to find in circulated grades is.... 1931-S Cent....I had another coin on the tip of my lips and now can't think of the date :rolling: In one way it is hard to find 1921 Peace dollars without them being cleaned. It seems like lots of them have been cleaned and look bad. Speedy
Yes there certainly is a lot of different items that go into the prices of a coin besides quantity minted. Naturally the 31S Cent is an example of where people hoarded a coin in mint condition when they reallized the low quantity minted so now on the market there is a flood of these for realtivily low prices. Other factors should be taken into account also such as the quantity of collectors for US Coins which is only an estimate and so are many of the prices. Then there is the popularity of certain coins. Example with most people, dealers, coin shows and shops that I know of is the poor desires for Jefferson Nickels. Also, it should be remebered that practically every kid that starts coin collecting begins with pennies because of thier cost and quantity available for young kids which actually increases the price by quantity of demand. Then there is the coin price error factor such as the numerous errors in this edition of the Red Book which tends to make some individuals not consider buying a coin because of the price differential between that book and other price sources. Coins that are cleaned, stained, artificially toned, excessively false toned and other alterations or tamperings, plated with other metals that are known to be previlant with certain coins tend to hold the prices down. Naturally ebay prices, dealers with high overhead, Individuals with no knowledge of value also tend to effect coin prices. However, it's part of the hobby of coin collecting.
