A Question For Dime Collectors

It'd be a scary world if rarity equaled value. Imagine painting a picture; now imagine trying to sell that picture as a one of kind (the ultimate in low mintage). The rarity is there but the value is not if it is my painting.

There were just 1000 3 cent silver pieces minted in 1872, but it's not much more expensive than 1866 which had 22,000 minted, and it's cheaper than a 1909-S VDB or a 1916-D dime in comparable condition. Very few people collect the series (partly because the low mintage makes it prohibitive), and just get a type specimen from a more common date, so it only goes so high. Lots of people collect Mercury dimes as a series and everybody collects Lincoln cents.

Although if you want to get down to brass tacks, I think the 1916-D, like the 1909-S VDB, is overpriced in low grades.

Don't think you can get a problem free G4 1916 d for $400. Slabbed G4's go for a few hundred more than that. Maybe you can get a deal getting an unslabbed one, or a damaged coin. But if you can get a nice problem free G4 for $400, then you got a stellar deal.

now if we compare the 1916-D to a Seated dime with a similar mintage, say the 1847, the mercury will do better every day of the week, even though there is only a fraction of the original 1847 mintage still existing today whereas there are probably more 1916-D dimes today than there was in 1916.

With coins there is no such thing as perfection in pricing. There are no manufacturer's lists prices for coins. All price guides for coins are purely guesswork based on what someone thinks and what is copied from somewhere else.
The most important thing about the value of any coin is popularity. There are numerous examples of this throughout the Coin World. Note that although there are doubled died Lincoln Cents for almsot every year, nothing outranks the 1955 and that is due to so many people saying that is the one they want. Everyone dealing with coins mentions that one so it's popularity is what makes it what it is. Some are priced based on hoaders. For example again, the 1931S Lincoln Cent that was hoarded in massive quantities so it's value is really low for it's quantity minted.
Popularity on many things is what makes it what it is. A Cadalac Car is just a car but it is mentioned so much on TV shows, Radio programs, advertised excessively that people all think it is the best car in the USA. IF the Pinto had that much popularity, it would out do all others too.
With Dimes all people talk about is the 16D Mercury. Another example of popularity is the 1931D Mercury dime with the 4th lowest mintage in the series yet no popularity, low prices.

many people collect Mercury dimes and Lincoln cents, YES the 1916-D dime, like the 1909-S VDB cent, are way overpriced in low grades. too many collectors need one so it becomes overpriced.
1921-D half has less mintage than 1916-D dime with 1/4 less price... less collect the halfs!