Rarest coin

What is the rarest coin you have ever held?
Mine would be a '37 three legged Buffalo nickel. It was on my very first trip to my LCS, back when I knew almost nothing about coin collecting. He had for sale for $600 don't remember the condition.

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I guess it depends on how you define "rare." I've owned a couple of Morgan VAMs which are still the single highest-graded examples of the variety.

In terms of mintage, either this:





or this:





....both having a mintage of just under 50,000. I've been through a lot of miscellaneous stuff over the last few years; there may be a greater rarity I was unaware of at the time.

 

1895 Proof Morgan-PF-65 I believe?. And a 1907 High Relief Wire edge and Flat edge. Both were MS-66 I believe.

 

What comes to mind... I recently held and played with a raw 78p vam 44a for a good 15mins that ended up in an anacs ms61 holder. This question can go many ways though and with many different answers. How about an 89cc in pcgs 62 dmpl or a small motto 1864 2c proof. Those were cool especially the 89cc

 

There's supposedly one (one) in FS in a PCGS slab; it sold via Stack's for $30k and the images aren't clear. A staggering rarity by any measure of the term.

 

US coins...excluding varieties...probably the LCS's 1916 Standing Liberty Quarter (from their personal collection.) Think they paid about $10k for it. I immediately handed it back.

 

This one. $220,000.

 

For US coins, I have held 1907 UHR St Gauden. For Ancients, I own a Central Asian imitation of a Byzantine gold coin that is unique as far as the world expert in them is concerned.

 

Pics?

 

The black marks are around an attempted hole someone made in antiquity. I haven't decided if I want to attempt to remove the black stuff or not.

It was found in the very north of Afghanistan. You can tell its a contemporary imitation by the nonsensical legend. Its similar to other pieces, but no known matches published.

 

I have not had the privilege of seeing or holding these truly rare marvels.

So I'll answer a different question. There rarest coins I own are 1886 3cent nickel proof, at 4,290 minted, and an 1888, at 4,582. The population census is about 1/4 of that. Yet they are not hard to come by. Even I can have one!

 

Is it gold? Incredible piece!

 

I own these:

US - a pattern of the cupro-nickel 10 cent coin struck with a large cent obverse dated 1868 - about 24 known



Foreign:

Scotland David II (1329-1371) Heavy Groat from the 1350s with seven arcs in the tressure around the king's portrait - 3 known examples no image uploaded though.

Scotland James VI(1567-1625) 30 Shillings 1586, very few examples were struck due to a plague in Edinburgh that year, only 3 examples are known no image uploaded though.

 

Held? Octagonal Pan-Pac $50 at Coinfest back in 2010.
Own? Library of Congress proof, or 1910/00 British Trade dollar (no official mintage for the overdate).

 

Here:

 

and, 'Proof' that I held it:




PS: The coin last sold for $3.7 million! So, I am holding almost 4 million dollars in my hand!

 

Beat THAT, folks.

 

It depends on how you define rare. I've held coins that are essentially unique, like the transitional Peace dollars form Mint Director Baker's estate auctioned at the 2014 ANA. I once got too spend a wonderful morning with Harlan Berk in his office in Chicago and handled more than a few raw, unique ancient coins.

Go to any Winter FUN or Summer ANA auction and you can play with Stellas, half dismes, rare territorial gold, and other six/seven-figure coins to your heart's content.

Doing this a few times has refined my tastes some. I'd rather own a common coin with stunning character and originality than an over-hyped uber-rare coin in so-so condition. A hairlined Proof 1913 Liberty nickel or a bent, holed half-disme doesn't do much for me. A 2000 year-old unique coin with booming original mint luster is something special.

 

The rarest I've held is a proof three cent nickel, I don't remember the exact year to give a precise mintage, and the rarest I own are my 1984 Swiss proofs, with mintages of 14,000 each.