Info on Commemoratives

BobbyD

Any advice you can tell me. Thanks everyone

gmarguli

Sure.

Placid

Buy the ones you like.

FlyTooHigh

Oregon trail!

truthteller

Stay away from the one's you don't like.

TRUTH

mr3holesinone

In my opinion, they can truely be called 'rare coins'. Mintages on many issues in the 1930s were often limited to 25,000 coins. While many have survived in mint state condition, a lot of them were also circulated and more than a few may have been melted during the 1980s.

Information on Commems can be found in a few books that have been written about them. Depending on what you're wanting to know the Red Book may contain all the info your looking for. I have the Breen/Swiatek Encyclopedia on Commems and while it's informative the Red Book gets used a lot more.

Do some research, look at what they're selling for and try to pick up some pieces at reasonable prices--you could do a lot worse.

BillJones

Comparing the mintages of commemorative coins with those of the regular issue business strike pieces is totally misleading. The reason is that most of the business strike coins are either badly worn or have the coin have gone to heaven (the melting pot). In contrast the vast majority of the commemorative coins that have been minted still exists, and for pieces in the 1930s, most all of those coins are in some level of Mint State condition or very close to it. Although earlier commemorative coins like the Columbian half dollars and the Monroe Doctrine half dollars did circulate, in the 1930s collectors were buying the coins, and they knew how to preserve them.

Rarity and supply is dependant upon the number of surviving coins. Mintages are only a clue to rarity and supply, and in the case of commemorative coins there is no comparison between their mintages and business strike mintages.