Another good Paul Green article re '71 halfs.
cladking
Posts: 28,701 ✭✭✭✭✭
Paul M Green runs lots of good articles on a wide variety of subjects
in Numismatic News. They are well thought out and entertaining. The
article in the 4/22/03 issue(pg 58) is no different. While the '71-P half
hardly rates as one of my favorite moderns or even my favorite halfs,
it is tough to get in even low grade gem. About 15% of mint set coins
will go MS-65 and they are scarce in the fairly plentiful supply of rolls.
This date mint set has suffered far higher attrition than most dates due
to it's absurdly low price for many years and the many better coins in it.
'71 was a low mintage, low quality year for most denominations. He goes
on to point out that gems have increased about five fold since 1998. The
really telling point is in the last paragraph he states that most have little
interest in selling even at the new price "because there is clearly no supply,
so the price may well increase even further".
While saying there is no supply is mostly hyperbole, consider that very few
of these coins have been graded at so low a grade. So you can't just wait
for one to show up at your local shop. If you want to pluck one raw from a
mint set then you'll have to find six or seven sets to be fairly confident of get-
ting it. Finding six or seven '71 mint sets will prove at least a small challenge
to many collectors nowdays. Ordering ChBU,Unc, or gBU coins from dealer ads
will not result in recieving one of these coins. The best you'll find for sale at
unslabbed prices is MS-63.
If a newbie or anyone else just goes out to buy a raw or slabbed '71 in low
grade gem, then he is quite likely to come to believe that there is no supply.
in Numismatic News. They are well thought out and entertaining. The
article in the 4/22/03 issue(pg 58) is no different. While the '71-P half
hardly rates as one of my favorite moderns or even my favorite halfs,
it is tough to get in even low grade gem. About 15% of mint set coins
will go MS-65 and they are scarce in the fairly plentiful supply of rolls.
This date mint set has suffered far higher attrition than most dates due
to it's absurdly low price for many years and the many better coins in it.
'71 was a low mintage, low quality year for most denominations. He goes
on to point out that gems have increased about five fold since 1998. The
really telling point is in the last paragraph he states that most have little
interest in selling even at the new price "because there is clearly no supply,
so the price may well increase even further".
While saying there is no supply is mostly hyperbole, consider that very few
of these coins have been graded at so low a grade. So you can't just wait
for one to show up at your local shop. If you want to pluck one raw from a
mint set then you'll have to find six or seven sets to be fairly confident of get-
ting it. Finding six or seven '71 mint sets will prove at least a small challenge
to many collectors nowdays. Ordering ChBU,Unc, or gBU coins from dealer ads
will not result in recieving one of these coins. The best you'll find for sale at
unslabbed prices is MS-63.
If a newbie or anyone else just goes out to buy a raw or slabbed '71 in low
grade gem, then he is quite likely to come to believe that there is no supply.
Tempus fugit.
0
Comments
Thank you for the excellent post. Although I have no intention to buy or own the '71 half, it is always great to learn about an interesting coin. I wish there was more of this type of thread on these boards
Russ, NCNE