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 Replies: 12 / Views: 1,063 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2208 Posts |
I just had another thought. Let's look at a well-known example of a classic coin: the SVDB cent. The original mintage was 484,000. Okay the first question would be, How many still exist? Then the second, perhaps more pertinent question would be, Where are they? I'd say most of them are in private collections or in coin dealers' stock. Where else could they possibly be?
It's a good question for any classic coin: if they are indeed still around, it seems to me there are only two places they would be: a collection or at a dealer's. The possibility of them still being in circulation has got to be slim to none.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1261 Posts |
Collectors, museums, dealers, auction houses, overseas somewhere, bank vaults, between the walls of old houses, buried in the ground, lost at sea...  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
17900 Posts |
Fires, floods, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earth quakes, sink holes, hurricanes and on and on...
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I am into classic CARS as well.
As a parallel, it is interesting to guess how many have survived. They are rarely seen on the roads these days, but lots are owned by classic car club members, and is on outings of such clubs that they seem to be common. However, parts can be difficult to find, which helps to keep them from being regularly driven.
I would that guess a survival rate of cars of 30 or more years old is around 1%. That's a lot of cars.
Old coins used to get melted down, especially silver coins, they are rarely seen in circulation these days, as silver was withdrawn from the World's circulating currencies. What remains is largely in the hands of collectors.
I would guess that a survival rate of silver coins 30 or more years old is around 1%. That's a lot of coins.
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Moderator
 United States
15469 Posts |
I did a lot of statistical work on this very topic ... albeit limited to my CRH find Jefferson nickel survival rates. I coined (pun intended) the concept of 'circulation obsolesce' for my nickels ... and showed with data the actual to-date values. You can likely find the methodology with a CCF search. Suppose the same can be done for any coins you are interested in ... caught in the wild and saved. I'm thinking it's going to be a very long search to have any circulation obsolesce data on the 1909-S VDB LWC. LOL Take a look at my other hobby ... http://www.jk-dk.art |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
Going back to the original SVDB cent question, *most* likely, very few were ever melted down... but you gotta wonder just how many might be in the bottom of grandpa's five gallon glass jug, buried for years and years? Eventually they get rolled up and are put back in circulation. Or at least, that's what us roll searchers dream of, and finding that old SVDB penny might be more realistic than finding a rare silver coin. Just my Two Cents worth (pen intended)  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
PUN, not pen, sorry  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1609 Posts |
From another post of mine, discussing an illusive 1958 DDO: Quote:Or they've been corroded to oblivion, worn to oblivion, sitting in a jar, buried underground, in a vault, in a bank, stuck in a cash register, at the bottom of a lake, stashed under a bed, stuck in a piece of furniture headed for the dump, in some oblivious person's pocket at this very moment, being spent at this very moment, in someone's gut, in an old shoe, hiding in the dusty corners of a mint room, under a carpet, in a giant change bin, in a fake unsearched roll on ebay, being dug up right now, graffitied away, carved away, in a vintage vending machine, in an old piggy bank at the back of someone's attic, at the bottom of a garbage bag, in the sewer, blah blah blah I'm out of ideas. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3843 Posts |
Quote:
Fires, floods, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earth quakes, sink holes, hurricanes and on and on... Recently there were articles about coin collections lost in the 2017 California forest fires and on some precious metals forums there has been some posts of fire damaged rounds and bars. Probably the same in Harvey, except water damage might not be as severe. It would be interesting if some insurance companies published numbers on claims for collectables. Edited by Joe2007
01/04/2018 9:29 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
Even if insurance companies released such figures (they won't), they wouldn't have specifics, at most they'd say "one coin collected, value $5000.
Some things we'll just never know.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
"one coin collection, value $5000"
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Plus most people don't have insurance on the collection as well.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10635 Posts |
Especially on total loss claims, unless you carry a separate rider policy.
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,063 |
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Posted 01/04/2018 6:40 pm
