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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 8311190, member: 68&quot;]This is a coin that has been on my list for a long time.&nbsp; But, unfortunately it&#039;s one I haven&#039;t been able to find in quantity or otherwise.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Of course with moderns there&#039;s no real way to know if this means it&#039;s common, scarce, or rare because most moderns exist in small to huge hoards no matter their mintage or availability.&nbsp; Old coins are spread out among tens or hundreds of thousands of owners with few having more than a hundred specimens.&nbsp; New coins have little demand and the ten or twenty owners of them have no incentive to sell.&nbsp; Those who do believe the coin is scarce may even be buyers.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I believe some moderns are so scarce that there aren&#039;t even hoards at all other than what someone was able to acquire in circulation.&nbsp; It&#039;s difficult for me to believe Soviet circulation coins from the early &#039;70&#039;s with mintages in the millions and prices over $100 in XF exist in any kind of quantity.&nbsp; How does the price of a &quot;10c&quot; coin get up over $100 while there is almost no demand if there are hoards?&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Most of these we just won&#039;t know for decades yet.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>There is a very strong tendency for moderns that were issued in mint sets to be very common even if the mint set mintage is only a few thousand.&nbsp; Most of the scarcities were not issued in mint sets.&nbsp; The implication being that the markets for these are exceedingly weak so even a few mint sets swamp the demand.&nbsp; another implication, of course, is that many moderns are far scarcer than collectors believe.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Moderns are terra incognita where the only thing you can tell about availability is whether you can find one or not.&nbsp; I have a couple hoards&nbsp; but a one of these came from a single source, ie- every single one I&#039;ve ever seen came from that specific source.&nbsp; These specific hoards are not particularly exciting because they are low denomination but it highlights the difficulty of collecting in an area without widespread demand.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Until recently I had believed &#039;50&#039;s era Chinese coins were tough but it appears this might not at all be the case since only the high grades have soared in price.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Once prices go up one must assume there is finally some collector demand and the price is a gauge of scarcity.&nbsp; Perhaps it&#039;s not a safe bet that 1956 Chinese coins are easy in XF.&nbsp; They are hard to find in the US though.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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