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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 818521, member: 68&quot;]I don&#039;t think either is the case.</p><p><br /></p><p>If the FED had melted any we should know about it so it&#039;s most unlikely any cu/ ni were melted other than a very small handfull of damaged coins that would be included with other damaged clad.&nbsp; I&#039;m talking a few thousand coins here tops.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s also highly unlikely there are any coins sitting on a shelf somewhere or lost in storage.&nbsp; The FED uses FIFO accounting and is required to take out of storage the coins which have been there the longest.&nbsp; All these coins have been issued to circulation according to these guidelines and FED practice.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The Ikes did circulate up until 1981 but at a very low rate.&nbsp; Most Ikes probably didn&#039;t change hands more than ten or fifteen times and many didn&#039;t circulate this way at all really.&nbsp; Of thoise that weren&#039;t used this way perhaps 20% were chewed up in casainos before a visitor took them home as a souvenir.&nbsp; The other 80% (40% of the total) were issued in bags to individual banks.&nbsp; A few of these were set aside by collectors but the bulk have just slowly gotten mixed in with the &quot;worn&quot; coins over the years.&nbsp; There was a net outflow of these from the banks and many of the individual coins are sliding around in sock drawers or change jars.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Look at the types of accumulations that dealers have that they buy cheap and sell for $1.20 or $1.30 each.&nbsp; These tend to be lightly worn pieces with a few super sliders and beat up coins from casinos.&nbsp; Many are the AU/ XF examples that circulated and have been bouncing around in bags ever since.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>About 25% of the mintage is gone now, lost to fire and flood and other calamity. Most are degraded and the surviving uncs are mostly ones that were intentionally set aside in rolls, bags, and mint sets.&nbsp; The bicentennial coins are mostly fairly common in unc but there probably aren&#039;t 2,000,000 of any of the other dates in uncs and some are much scarcer. This isn&#039;t counting the super sliders and uncs in bags.&nbsp; But, again, the vast majority&nbsp; of these uncirculated coins are MS-63 or less (usually much less).&nbsp; Many of the Ikes looked like MS-40 when they were brand new though these surely haven&#039;t survived as well.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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