Link To Find Estimated Number Of Remaining Coins

"Survival Estimate" toward the bottom of the page. That's exactly what I was looking for.

Thank you for the help!

PCGS survival estimates, to my mind, are partly alchemy, partly puffery, and completely guesswork. They're using the same mathematical formula as political polls, without subsequent election results to refine their model and they're only polling themselves.

Every estimate is nothing but an educated guess. The PCGS guess is as good as anyone else's and probably better than the vast majority but it is still just an educated guess. No one on the planet can count coins that no one knows are out there hiding in family collections and no one knows how many things were lost to the smelter during the last metal run up.

I appreciate all the feedback.

I wasn't looking for a real number, just a general idea. My curiosity is more romantic notion than scientific need.

It did cross my mind to find some coin with a relatively small value and a relatively small survival estimate and start stock piling them.

Like take some 1/2 cent with an estimated 4000 or so in existence, and a lowish value. You can probably buy them easily. Keep doing it, until you have 2000 of them, then 3000...

It seems like you can get close to having "all" of them and affect a price spike due to low availability. Create your own scarcity in the market place.

I expect it wouldn't work, but I like the thought.

An early copper Half Cent or large cent with an estimated population of 4,000 would be considered to be a very common coin. You might try with something a little scarcer, say one rated as an R-4, 76 to 200 estimated. (Usually there isn't much of a premium until you get to an R-5 31 to 75 known.) One guy did what you suggested and set out to prove single handedly the the 1803 S-262 was not an R-5 coin by acquiring 75 pieces. He quit when he got to 68, but in the meantime he caused the price to more than double because if you wanted one you had to outbid him to get it. On the other hand he did prove it wasn't an R-5 because with his and the other pieces known in other collections the known population was now too high. Today it is rated a high R-3 200 to 330 estimated to exist.

Thing is that if a coin has a small survival rate but still has a relatively small value there's going to be a reason for it. The reason is usually going to be that there just isn't much demand for that coin. It might be in a series that isn't very popular or some other similar reason. Finding a coin that has a low survival, a low price and a decent amount of demand? Well that's going to be quite the challenge.