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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 26694251, member: 105571&quot;]To succinctly answer the OP&#039;s question:&nbsp; Generally all R values are estimates.&nbsp; The exceptions are for quite rare coins in the range of R-6 to R-8 plus unique survivors.&nbsp; The estimates range from fairly credible to not very credible at all.&nbsp; Depends on the issue and the amount of serious collector attention over time.&nbsp; This is where deep dives into the specifics of collecting a particular issue pays off.</p><p><br /></p><p>JRCS regularly conducts census surveys of the various denominations of the silver denominations from 1794 to 1837.&nbsp; Admittedly, these are only surveys of those who choose to reply (mostly JRCS members) and do not include all survivors.&nbsp; Many raw and unattributed coins are not identified.&nbsp; But the surveys are not just numerical counts, they are leavened with the knowledge and experience of the members.&nbsp; Thus, sometimes previous census rarities are changed, usually reducing the rarity, say from an R-5 to an R-4 as new known survivors are identified.</p><p><br /></p><p>The same, more or less, can be said of EAC for early US copper and C4 for pre-Federal and Colonial issues.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>As for the 1823 dime in the OP&#039;s post, there is no way that a coin with 150 known survivors has been assigned a rarity of R-7.&nbsp; The Sheldon scale (both the original from 1949 and more modern versions)&nbsp; assigns R-7 to a known survivorship of 4 to 12 examples.</p><p><br /></p><p>My references list only three die marriages for 1823.&nbsp; JR-1, R-3.&nbsp; JR-2, R-4.&nbsp; JR-3, R-2.&nbsp; The large E (E of STATES) varieties are either JR-2 or JR-3 both using Reverse W.</p><p><br /></p><p>R-2 is 501-1000 survivors.</p><p>R-3 is 201-500 survivors.</p><p>R-4 is 76-200 survivors.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, sometimes a coin might be a very common R-1 but have a conditional rarity in grades above or below a certain point.&nbsp; There are even particular coins or series where circulated coins are rarer than uncirculated coins.&nbsp; But if someone claims a R value for a conditional rarity, they need to specify that it&#039;s a conditional rarity otherwise it&#039;s just a lie.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m familiar with the URS scale and I see its logic but I fail to see the need for it.&nbsp; I have the same feelings for it as I do for the NGCX decimal grading scale - OK but why?&nbsp; All these scales are arbitrary anyway except for the original genesis by Dr. Sheldon of his R scale which was designed to arithmetically &quot;fit&quot; his intended pricing scheme.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyway, hope this sheds some light and no confusion.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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