Are 10,000+ Mintages Considered "rare"? Warning: Rant Enclosed

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Author	Replies: 3 / Views: 1,565
4504 Valued Member United States 379 Posts	Posted 08/17/2016 7:11 pm Like many of us, I regularly check ebay for coins, along with auction houses. It drives me crazy to see a seller list his coin as "EXTREMELY RARE" when the coin has mintages of over 10,000+, or when I see several coins just like it on ebay or other sites, etc. sometimes I cannot stand it and email the seller with something like "hello, is this coin as "extremely rare" as the other 4 just like it on ebay right now? what is it about your specific coin that makes it different or more rare than the other ones?". funny, I never received an answer from these sellers. maybe I did not deserve one. but I honestly wanted to know if there were perhaps something about their particular coin that makes it "extremely rare" that they failed to mention in the listing. for instance, I did buy a HENRY VII coin, that is not all that rare, however, when I got it, I found that it was coin number 1 on the c.o.a. he never put this fact in his listing! while I did buy another coin just like it and the seller was all about mentioning that it was #2 on the c.o.a., over and over and over... now, that is what I call "rare". ok, I admit I could be all wrong and a poo-poo. personally, I do have some "rare" coins, but when I describe them I say that they are "scarce". I guess it all depends on what a person thinks what the word "rare" means. the dictionary meanings seems to back me up, but I am no authority to be sure... mike Report this Post to the Staff

Omegaraptor Valued Member United States 321 Posts	Posted 08/17/2016 7:28 pm Survival rates matter more than mintages IMO in order to find out how rare a coin is. Keep in mind that rarity #8800; value, and that demand trumps all. Let's look at the 1909-S VDB cent. Costs $800 in Fine, yet the relatively high mintage of 484000 and the very high survival rate of 50000 (PCGS Coinfacts estimate) says that without this coin's extremely high demand, it likely wouldn't be worth over $200. Now let's look at some coins that I believe are underrated and undervalued. Why isn't the 1867-S quarter eagle with 28000 minted and 150 survivors worth $800 in Fine? Why isn't the 1852-O Half Dime with 260000 minted and 200 survivors worth $800 in Fine? Why isn't the 1838-O Half Dime with 70000 minted and 200 survivors worth $800 in Fine? Why is the 1861-S quarter with 96000 minted and 60 survivors (yes, 60) worth only $1250 in Fine? I could go on for hours with the list of Seated Liberty silver and Liberty Head gold coins. They have little demand, because 1) the Seated series has lots of stoppers and 2) gold is too expensive to collect by date/mm. I love these coins, as well as most coins from these series, and wish to own all of them soon. I own the 1852-O Half Dime so far. I'm 13 by the way. Report this Post to the Staff
Kefiroth Pillar of the Community United States 1431 Posts	Posted 08/17/2016 9:19 pm I cannot tell you how many innumerable times I have seen ebay sellers describe what is literally the most common date in a given series, as "RARE", "SCARCE", or "TOUGH DATE". When it comes to ebay, these are descriptors that ought to be ignored in all cases. Report this Post to the Staff
macmercury Pillar of the Community United States 5833 Posts	Posted 08/17/2016 10:07 pm Some coins are rare or extremely rare in high grades due to poor strikes. 1945-P Mercury dime for example. Report this Post to the Staff
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Are 10,000+ Mintages Considered "Rare"? Warning: Rant Enclosed