Posted 06/14/2010 11:48 am
Pandesalapi The 371/365 mating is a scarcer coin than an original 1832 Durango 8R. There is NO doubt there. In my years of collecting I have seen literally hundreds of real 1832 Do coins but fewer than 10 of the 371/365 Riddells.
But rarity does not translate to value in all cases. Value depends on how many people want to own a specific coin. I know from the time before ebay stopped posting identities that perhaps 150 to 200 bidders had an interest in Counterfeit Mexican coins. If all of those collectors wanted a coin like the 371/365 the supply is simply not there. But for some reason (I suspect simply a lack of information is the cause) the rarity of these old counterfeits is essentially still a secret.
If interest ever developed it would be interesting to watch prices jump.
Here is a simple example. In 1955 the United States made an error in preparing one die for a one cent coin. They misaligned the hub and created the 1955 double die cent. They released perhaps 50,000 into circulation. But there were a million people collecting US cents and everyone of them wanted one of these coins and the price rose from 25 cents to $100 in no time. Compare that with a 1959 regular issue one cent coin from Seychelles - mintage 30,000. It is rarer than a 1955 US double die but it is worth only 1 or 2 dollars in MS. How many people collect Seychelles?
So value of Contemporaneous Circulating Counterfeit coins is tied to how many people find them interesting enough to collect. I hope that some day collectors will realize that these coins circulated along side the originals in the pockets of everyday citizens in the US and elsewhere and that they are a part of the history of Numismatics.
But rarity does not translate to value in all cases. Value depends on how many people want to own a specific coin. I know from the time before ebay stopped posting identities that perhaps 150 to 200 bidders had an interest in Counterfeit Mexican coins. If all of those collectors wanted a coin like the 371/365 the supply is simply not there. But for some reason (I suspect simply a lack of information is the cause) the rarity of these old counterfeits is essentially still a secret.
If interest ever developed it would be interesting to watch prices jump.
Here is a simple example. In 1955 the United States made an error in preparing one die for a one cent coin. They misaligned the hub and created the 1955 double die cent. They released perhaps 50,000 into circulation. But there were a million people collecting US cents and everyone of them wanted one of these coins and the price rose from 25 cents to $100 in no time. Compare that with a 1959 regular issue one cent coin from Seychelles - mintage 30,000. It is rarer than a 1955 US double die but it is worth only 1 or 2 dollars in MS. How many people collect Seychelles?
So value of Contemporaneous Circulating Counterfeit coins is tied to how many people find them interesting enough to collect. I hope that some day collectors will realize that these coins circulated along side the originals in the pockets of everyday citizens in the US and elsewhere and that they are a part of the history of Numismatics.
