R-1 (Common) = 1,000+ known R-2 (Slightly Uncommon) = 500-1,000 known R-3 (Scarce) = 201-500 known R-4 (Very Scarce) = 81-200 known R-5 (Rare) = 31-80 known R-6 (Very Rare) = 13-30 known R-7 (Extremely Rare) = 4-12 known R-8 (Unique or nearly so) = 1-3 known Fuld rarity scale for token coins: GEORGE FULD RARITY SCALE FOR TOKEN COINS RARITY ESTIMATED NUMBER IN EXISTENCE R - 1 Greater than 5000 (Relatively Common) R - 2 2001 to 5000 R - 3 501 to 2000 R - 4 201 to 500 R - 5 76 to 200 R - 6 21 to 75 R - 7 11 to 20 R - 8 5 to 10 R - 9 2 to 4 R - 10 1 Only The Sheldon Scale R-1 Common R-2 Not So Common R-3 Scarce R-4 Very Scarce (population est at 76-200) R-5 Rare (31-75) R-6 Very Rare (13-30) R-7 Extremely rare (4-12) R-8 Unique or Nearly So (1,2 or 3) The Universal Rarity Scale by Q. David Bowers URS-0 None known URS-1 1 known, unique URS-2 2 known URS-3 3 or 4 known URS-4 5 to 8 known URS-5 9 to 16 known URS-6 17 to 32 known URS-7 33 to 64 known URS-8 65 to 125 known URS-9 126 to 250 known URS-10 251 to 500 known URS-11 501 to 1,000 known URS-12 1,001 to 2,000 known URS-13 2,001 to 4,000 known URS-14 4,001 to 8,000 known URS-15 8,001 to 16,000 known URS-16 16,001 to 32,000 known URS-17 32,001 to 65,000 known URS-18 65,001 to 125,000 known URS-19 125,001 to 250,000 known URS-20 250,001 to 500,000 known From the degrees of Rarity as defined in Scholten in Coins of the Dutch Overseas Territories Scholten Description C Common N Normal S Scarce R Rare RR Very Rare RRR Extremely Rare RRRR Of the utmost rarity Michael Marsh in his book The Gold Sovereign expands the last rarity. Marsh Description R4 15 to 25 examples known R5 9 to 14 examples known R6 4 to 8 examples known R7 Highest rarity known Andrew Pollock in his book US Patterns uses the rarity as, Marsh Description R1 over 1250 examples known R2 500 to 1250 examples known R3 201 to 500 examples known R4 76 to 200 examples known R5 31 to 75 examples known R6 13 to 30 examples known R7 4 to 12 Highest rarity known R8 2 or 3 examples known English Rarity Scale - from The English Silver Coinage from 1649 by Seaby & Rayner. R7 - only 1 or 2 examples known R6 - 3 - 4 R5 - 5 - 10 R4 - 11 - 20 R3 - Extremely Rare R2 - Very Rare R - Rare S - Scarce N - Normal, neither scarce nor common C - Common C2 - Very Common C3 - Extremely Common
I will keep your rarity scales. There are so many, Overton halves, Morgan vams, half cents etc. THANKS!
This is going to take a long time to memorize, but thank you both for showing me this! This will certainly be helpfull for me especially since I have a coin show comming up in 2 weeks.
That's what reference books are for! That stuff needn't be memorized, it just needs to be organized so that it can be found at the appropriate time
I was surprised to see the Hard Times tokens rarity scale not listed as it's use is fairly common. R1 - common R2 - less common R3 - Scarce R4 - estimated 76-200 specimens survive R5 - estimated 31-75 specimens survive R6 - estimated 13-30 specimens survive R7 - estimated 4-12 specimens survive R8 - estimated 2 or 3 specimens survive R9 - Unique (only one known) I could dig up many obscure rarity rating lists, as it seems most every author who included one must have felt a need to conjure up a new system. As The_Cave_Troll posted, that is what reference books are for. More than likely you will need a reference book to (id and) find the rarity rating anyway, and the rarity listings will be in the book. While some sellers provide rarity ratings as part of a description, there are enough errors made in providing such info that I put absolutely no trust at all in such descriptions. Often times the rarity rating is in err because the item has also been incorrectly identified. For instance, one common exonumia reference only lists the most common variety of Civil War token for each merchant. So many sellers of truly scarce tokens have incorrectly identifed their piece as a relatively common one. I love to see that catalogue referenced in a description. I did not verify this, but I am pretty sure at least on of my state merchant token reference books starts off with a known population of 20 (yes, twenty) or more as a "common" rating, and ratings become scarcer from there. On a side note, to comment a bit a to try to put some perspective on these low populations, it must be collectors of regular coinage the saying that "another of the same coin will be along shortly" when there is something about a coin deal that they may not like. I have not heard any exonumia collectors ever (seriously) say that, and many is the token I will never have an opportunity to purchase. It is believed that approximately one million Civil War tokens still exist, spread out over 12,000 + varieties, with around 75-80% of the varieties having known populations of 20 or less. For a comparison, most collectors would agree that a 1909-S VDB cent is scarce. In performing an ebay search just a few minutes ago for "1909 S VDB", 240 results were found (additional ones via other similar but different search criteria not included). I made no attempt to determine how many auctions were actually for this cent, and not just, say, mentioned as hype in bulk lot descriptions. For comparison, the entire Civil War token category contained 239 results. In this case as well, not all auctions are actually for cwts, as some are for Hard Times tokens, reference books, and other miscellaneous exonumia. I find it somewhat interesting that the returned results were so close, so imagine the scarcity of market availability of a 1909 S VDB cent spread out over 12,000+ cwt varieties. This is admittedly a very crude comparison, but it should serve to provide some insight into finding/collecting scarcities of any type.
Those are very interesting pieces. I have a couple. As far as the number of 1909-S VDBs it's due to the lax control Ebay has over counterfeit insertion. The 09-S VDB is very easily forged and many are listed. Remember it's difficult to post both sides of the coin and the VDB on the neck can be removed easily. B
