$5 Half Eagle Help Question

Welcome to Coin Community, PH1221. Given that the Mint produced quantities by specific order - related to what was perceived as actual demand - I'd think it safe to assume that generally, larger mintages circulated more. So, also generally, the numbers of survivors in Mint State tended to be roughly equal, at least enough so that prices at MS63 pretty much equalize for the higher mintages (a million or more).

Either way, that's a nice price for the coin and if it was the best of them, you've done well.

Now, if it were an 1889, you'd want to be buying champagne.

Pretty much, yes, but that will of course change with much lower mintages like 1881-CC for instance. You'll be lucky to find one of them at all - fewer than 100 are believed to exist and an MS63 - there's only one known - would fetch well into 5 figures.

Gold coins of that day were worth the face value at their metal content. The Mint recycled them when they began to wear enough to affect the weight (therefore value). So, that recycling played into mintage numbers, as well.

I wish we could generalize to that extent, but all theories are out the window when it comes to lower mintages. I was kinda expounding only on the largest-mintage issues, figuring there's a (rough) "saturation" point at which as many people who were going to save one in Mint State, had done so. I was actually a little surprised at seeing such commonality of pricing among issues of a million or more - considering that pricing represents a substantial premium over the actual melt value.

If you like the way the coin looks, don't worry about over paying too much.

So something like a 81S which was also selling--will that have a chance to become a key date?

Do they MS63 grades truly even out for the most part? Thanks

You should be aware that there are statistics about the number of coins that exist at the different grade levels, called population reports. It is often the case that two different dates with similar mintages have very different survival rates and in such cases the population reports will show that difference. The mintage numbers also factor in, with lower mintage totals generally (but not always) translating to lower population numbers.

Do you have a list of all the MS-63 dates that your dealer was offering? A cross-check against the pop reports might pinpoint which of those would be better choices in terms of potential price appreciation.

By the way, based on mintages alone I'd definitely pick the 1881-S over the 1881-P, assuming both have similar eye appeal.

Thanks guys!

Jaobler (or any one else) can you show me these "population reports" on half eagles of MS63?

The 1881-S was indeed there for $700, but it had copper spottings and a small scratch.

This was definitely the best looker, and I hope they are on equal terms in MS-63 than these other coins.

Any help is appreciated!

ANOTHER QUESTION:

Why is the 1902 half eagle, for example, with only 172k mintages, worth so little? (worth the same as very high mintages)

http://www.coinfacts.com/half_eagle...lf_eagle.htm

If you have Excel I can e-mail you some info. A lower Pop Report number will not necessarily make a coin more valuable. All of the common dates (and there's a lot of them) will be priced and valued very close to one another.