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Seriously... Do People Really Know How Many There Are?

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zeus's Avatar
United States
3 Posts
 Posted 09/22/2011  7:59 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add zeus to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
I am new to coin collecting, so please elaborate on this:
I have seen numerous comments when reading about value of a coin which says something to the effect ..." a coin may have that high of a value because there aren't very many of them at that grade". Then when I look in the Red Book, I see that there may be thousands or even millions minted for all grades. There are over 300 pages of coins in the Red Book. Are there really people out there who know how many coins there are from a particular year at a certain grade? How in the WORLD does someone keep track of THAT?
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Conder101's Avatar
United States
17884 Posts
 Posted 09/22/2011  8:53 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Conder101 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
It depends on the coin but yes in some cases we do have a fair handle on how many exist.
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rachums107's Avatar
United States
3345 Posts
 Posted 09/22/2011  9:00 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add rachums107 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
TPGs keep track of the coins they grade, and coins with exceptionally high grades (ex: MS67 Buffalo nickel) are almost always sent to be graded. I think if there is a dealer with a coin that high quality they will always send it to be graded. I doubt many coins exist in high grades that are uncertified.
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CaptainFwiffo's Avatar
United States
4132 Posts
 Posted 09/22/2011  9:02 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add CaptainFwiffo to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
To know the approximate population of fish in a lake, you don't have to pull them all out and count them. You can take samples and use statistics.
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mitchhailey's Avatar
United States
1150 Posts
 Posted 09/22/2011  11:03 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add mitchhailey to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
You are correct. Not one person can say exactly how many coins exist in a particular grade for most series, however, educated guesses can be made.
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BadThad's Avatar
United States
19944 Posts
 Posted 09/22/2011  11:12 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add BadThad to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
A vast pool of experience, remember, numismatics has been around a long time. Mankind has studied each series of US coin in detail over decades.
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nod2003's Avatar
United States
3294 Posts
 Posted 09/23/2011  09:04 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add nod2003 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
And sometimes, they get it wrong, and a hoard of hundreds or thousands of coins that were thought to be quite rare pop up and the price plummets. I think the 1904O dollar did that.
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akane17's Avatar
United States
404 Posts
 Posted 09/23/2011  12:59 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add akane17 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Just last year I bought a 1999 Silver Proof Kennedy pf70 when the book value was around $300(I paid $83). But the same guy I bought it from on ebay listed about 30 over the course of a couple months. Next time NGC updated their price guide the price pummeted.
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United States
20753 Posts
 Posted 09/23/2011  4:02 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add just carl to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Don't listen to people that claim no one knows how many coins of any time exist. The government hss hired millions of counter people to count all the coins in the USA every year. So now there is a real, honest, truthfull, complete listing of every coin in the USA that still exists today. The only real problem is people like me melt one down each day to throw them off.
Hopefully you know the above is utterly rediculous. In reality it is more like Thad said

Quote:
A vast pool of experience, remember, numismatics has been around a long time. Mankind has studied each series of US coin in detail over decades.

The actual amount of coins of almost any type gets less accurate every day due to so many reasons it boggles the imagination.
Not to long ago there was a post about all the things people have done to coins. Sure wish I knew how to link to that so you could see just how much stuff is done to coins making the quantity not so easy to estimate.
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