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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;mark_h, post: 708805, member: 3726&quot;]Very interesting challenge. What does not make a coin rare to me is price - I do not consider certain coins rare like 1909 anything, 1877 IHC&#039;s, etc. It seems like everybody has them - maybe not always, but they can be found.&nbsp; The coins I consider rare on the 1877 to 1881 shield nickels.&nbsp; In 1877 and 1878 only proof nickels were minted. I have read several reasons from the economic slump to older silver coins being used in circulation again.&nbsp; In either case only about 510 Proof Nickels were minted in 1877 and 2350 in 1878.&nbsp; While not exactly cheap both of these coins are available at reasonable prices - in my opinion - especially the 1878. In 1879,1880 and 1881 there were between 3 - 4000 proofs minted - you can see the red book for mintages. In 1880 there were only 16000 business strike nickels. Actually I read in one place the 1880 is the key date.&nbsp; I believe collectors conserved and kept the proof nickels for 1880 and these also can be found(in my opinion) at reasonable prices.&nbsp; I was lucky to find a 1879 business strike nickel and it had a mintage around 25k. To me mintage and availability make a coin rare - nothing to do with price which is driven by demand.&nbsp; I can find lots of other coins like 3 cent pieces with a low mintage that qualifies, but I have not really priced them so I do not know about prices.&nbsp; I think some people will not collect a series because of these low mintages, which keeps the demand and prices down.&nbsp; So to the original request I would say that 1879 and 1880 business strikes qualify as rare coins. I can&#039;t really think of anything past 1900, with the exception of the 1916 SLQ(something I currently can not afford), that I would consider rare(not without getting into varieties).&nbsp; Just my humble opinion.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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