Question about Half Cents
skingspan
Posts: 519 ✭✭
I was just looking through my redbook and noticed that the mintages half cents are really low and most common dates can be had for around $50 in the mid grades. Is this just an unpopular series or did the coins not circulate? Seems odd to me that I can get a coin with a mintage of <130,000 for $50 in fine condition.
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When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary.
Thomas Paine
I got my first 1877 IHC for 50 bucks and very few collected by date. In fact, very few even collected anything. First $2.5 indian....$14.00. 1940 proof set.....another $50.
Half cents and two cent pieces and some of those other groovy 19th century type coins are all too often overlooked. Few people collect them by date, and I would imagine the number of type collectors versus date-and-mint collectors is still relatively small. Therefore, the demand is not as strong. Lower demand, lower prices.
Look at the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent or the 1916-D Mercury dime. These are key dates and the demand for them will always be strong, 'cause everybody and their grandfather collects Lincolns or Mercs, but when you compare their pricetags with the price of a 150+ year old half cent with a lower mintage and a lot more history, it does seem kind of strange. But everyone has different motives for collecting.
Mintage 63,000...price $38.50
ebay
Most of these are collected by type, though, so better dates don't get much premium.
by the same token, when choosing a type coin, why not go for a lower mintage issue?
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
<< <i>Seems odd to me that I can get a coin with a mintage of <130,000 for $50 in fine condition. >>
Welcome to the world of 19th century coins and less avidly collected series. There are several series that have coins with low mintages like that that don't cost much. Try seated Liberty half dimes. Half of the coins have mintages lower than the 09-SVDB cent, many MUCH lower yet most of them are easily affordable. IF you can find them.
One of the finest quality half cent collections ever assembled will be on display in Pittsburgh at the ANA.The Jim Mcguigan collection will be on display at his table.It is also listed on the set registry
Stewart
Premium for extra-curly (EC) hair.
<< <i>Seems odd to me that I can get a coin with a mintage of <130,000 for $50 in fine condition. >>
Welcome to the world of 19th century coins and less avidly collected series. There are several series that have coins with low mintages like that that don't cost much. Try seated Liberty half dimes. Half of the coins have mintages lower than the 09-SVDB cent, many MUCH lower yet most of them are easily affordable. IF you can find them. >>
Yeah, I'm starting to think about that as I near completion of one collection and get ready to start my next collecting endeavour.
I've collected small cents since I was about 6 years old, which means I've been at it for probably about 32 years. I started with space fillers my dad gave me and beat up old G-4 coins I'd buy from a dealer for 10-50 cents each, depending on date and mintmark.
Well, over time as finances improved above and beyond the two dollar weekly allowance (or whatever it was), I started collecting higher grades, and now I'm shooting for everything XF-AU, from 1857-1933, complete (minus overdates and '22-D no-D). I recently got 1877 (NGC XF-40) and 1914-D (PCGS AU-50) out of the way, and all that's left are the 1909-S Indian and 1909-S VDB cent (which are both easier to find than 1877 and 1914-D in these grades because of much higher survival and preservation rates). Well, there are a handful of other very cheap ones I don't have, either because I haven't looked very hard or because I just haven't seen them -- but these are the only two significant remaining obstacles. But all of the other remaining holes to filled or upgraded, combined, should be less than a couple hundred bucks and can be done a little at a time.
Once I finish these, I will go elsewhere. I've been thinking about half cents. And two cent pieces (a nice short series that's pretty affordable -- you can complete an AU set at current Trends values for not much more than I paid for only the 1877 and 1914-D cents combined). And a few other less heralded series where you don't have a million date collectors competing for scarce pieces. I definitely want to take the road less traveled with the next collection I build.