how would you define the rarity of a coin? i would define it on how OLD it is and whether or not it is in GOOD CONDITION. do you agree?
Not necessarily. There are plenty of old coins in excellent condition that aren't rare or valuable. Rarity is based on Age, Quantity and Quality.
Actually age has nothing to do with rarity except by coincidence. While it may be true that many old or very old coins are rare - by no means are all of them rare. Many collectors would think that Capped Bust half dollars 1807 - 1836 would be considered rare. But they are not. The mintages for almost every year is over 1 million - often several million. And for a better example - there have been over 50,000 of these coins graded by NGC & PCGS alone that are graded AU50 or higher. That does not count all the coins graded lower or all the coins that have not been submitted. And over 50,000 of anything is not rare in anybody's book. There are two things that can determine a coin's rarity - the most important is quantity. How many of a given coin that exist at the present time will always be the primary qualifier. If there are only 10 or 15 of a given coin known to exist - it is rare - period. And the condition of the coin has nothing to do with it. Rare is rare. Condition rarities are another matter entirely. Condition rarities exist for all coins old and new alike. Too many collectors make the mistake of saying that modern coins in high or ultra-high grades cannot be rare because so many were made. But the exact same thing is true of older coins as well. Collectors make the mistake of thinking that just because a coin is old they didn't make very many. Well in many cases this simply isn't true. Condition rarity is condition rarity for both old and new alike. So the next time someone tells you that a coin is rare remember that. Just because it is 200 yrs. old and graded EF45 does not make it rare. It may well be scarce or hard to find in that grade but a condition rarity will always be just that - a condition rarity. There could easily be thousands or tens of thousands of the same coin available in other or lesser grades. Even if it is 200 yrs. old
we've been talking about rarity for the past couple of days. do you think rarity is much of a factor in coins?
It is a HUGE factor in coins ! Especially when one considers value. But even value aside - there is nothing quite like the thrill you get when you aquire that last hard to find example Few things have ever given me the personal satisfaction that finally managing to find, let alone purchase, the last coin you need for a set. Even finding and aquiring a rarity all by itself can be hugely satisfying. The problem is - all too many collectors, and not just beginners, don't really understand rarity. They have these mistaken ideas about rarity that I mentioned in my previous post. The biggest problem is of course the perception that in order to be rare it must be old. There are a great many rare coins that are not old at all. For the most part - modern US coins are not rare if you leave out condition rarities. There are several examples that are rather scarce - but certainly not rare. I am talking about some of the modern commemorative coins with mintages under 10,000. But there are many modern world coins with mintages under 100. Some of them even have mintages that number 20, 30 or 40 examples. A few have even less. These coins I would call rare. But a coin does not need to be rare to be worthy of being collected. ANY COIN is worthy of being collected as long as you like it
