. And how can a die only mint 8 examples that year 
Posted 11/10/2018 10:24 am
John1 I fully agree that the rarity scale is a source of confusion. Almost every time I compare the scale against the number of graded examples there are more actual known coins than the scale would indicate. So maybe it is the number graded at the time of the publication of the URS number for some coin (and people continue to get more graded), but why don't they just say that explicitly! Neither does it say they are only taking into consideration graded examples nor that it is based on an actual number rather than an expected number. Given that almost an entire page is devoted to this scale in the CherryPickers' Guide one would think they could have explained how they arrived at their numbers. However, it does give some index for quickly knowing whether a coin is fairly scarce or not, and anytime I find something with an URS of 4 I am pretty darn happy.
There is even more guesswork in the idea of why are there so few of one thing and many of another. Did the mint see the error and pull the die quickly after just a few got through? Was it the end of the year or a random bulk die change and they just ended things after only a few got struck? Don't know but would love more info on why some are so darn hard to find while others seem to be all over the place.
There is even more guesswork in the idea of why are there so few of one thing and many of another. Did the mint see the error and pull the die quickly after just a few got through? Was it the end of the year or a random bulk die change and they just ended things after only a few got struck? Don't know but would love more info on why some are so darn hard to find while others seem to be all over the place.
