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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Conder101, post: 295254, member: 66&quot;]I&#039;ve been trying to understand the availability of the 96 bust cent for years.&nbsp; This coin is MUCH scarcer that its mintage would make it seem to be and I can&#039;t figure out why.&nbsp; In my opinion the 1796 draped bust cent is scarcer the 1793 wreath cent and about the same as the 93 chain. and slightly more common than the 1799 cent which is more common than the 93 cap.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you look at the mintages the 96 draped should be three times as common as the 96 cap.&nbsp; But on the bourse floor, other than in the stock of a major copper dealer, you will be lucky to find even a single 96 draped bust of ANY variety or condition even at a large show.&nbsp; I find typical availability is about one 96 draped bust for every ten 96 caps, and 96 caps aren&#039;t really that common.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think there has to be something wrong with the mintage figures.&nbsp; Supposedly th Draped bust design went into production in July of 1796 and were struck through the end of the year, and some of them were also struck during the start ups of the Philadelphia mint after the yellow fever shutdowns in 1797 and 1798.&nbsp; Yet there are only two varieties that exist in large enough quantity to be considered common on the Sheldon rarity scale, and they barely make Common.&nbsp; This compares to the 96 caps where only two of the eleven varieties are not common.</p><p><br /></p><p>I think that the 96 caps were struck later than the month of July because most of the first part of 1796 had to have been used in striking the 1795 plain edge cents.&nbsp; (Over 500,000 plain edge 1795 cents were struck but they could not have been struck until after Washington reduced the weight of the cent by Presidential order and that did not happen until late December 1795.&nbsp; There would not have been enough time in 1795 to strike them so they had to have been struck in 1796.&nbsp; 500,000 cents would have taken some time to strike. probably close to the first half of the year.&nbsp; So now there would not have been enough time to strike the 96 caps before the designs changed in July.)&nbsp; This would seem to imply that a some of the 363 thousand draped bust cents were actually 96 caps, and probably some of the 500,000 1795 caps as well. I think some of the 95 caps must have been 96 caps because otherwise you have 500,000 1795 cents being struck by just three varieties, while 363,000 96 draped busts required 27 varieties![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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