1914-D Cent vs. 1931-S Cent

SirAnthonyAC

Hello,

Okay, here's a dumb question but... why is the 1914-D Cent (Circulation strikes: 1,193,000) always selling for double the price of the 1931-S cent (Circulation strikes: 866,000)?

There are over 300,000 more 1914-Ds minted than the 1931-S but, the 31-S always sells for half the price, why?

Is the 31-S really undervalued, like many of the Peace dollars, or is there another factor? Such as, many 1914-D cents were melted or something.

Thanks,
AC

LickThoseStamps

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+1

ziggy29

1914-D wins in the 6th round by TKO.

DIMEMAN

I question your math??

mintage doesn't always decide price.

I may be wrong, but I think the 31-S buffalo nickel has a lower mintage than a lot of the expensive buffs.

Maybe it's a 31-s thing!?

Then there is the whole modern thing....................billions of those, but sell for moon money if they are in the right holder!!!???

ziggy29

Ah, now we have the rest of the story.

The '31-S was recognized as a scarce date almost as soon as it was minted. As a result, its survival rate is very high, most were plucked out of circulation early, and the date is rarely seen below VF.

The '14-D was not so recognized for many years; most of them circulated heavily for many years. And by the time a critical mass of seekers were plucking them out of circulation, many were lost and most were well worn.

The net result is that the '14-D is a bit scarcer than the '31-S overall, and much scarcer in high grades.

LickThoseStamps

Supply and demand. The 1931-s was widely hoarded.

Shamika

<< <i>Hello,

Okay, here's a dumb question but... why is the 1914-D Cent (Circulation strikes: 1,193,000) always selling for double the price of the 1931-S cent (Circulation strikes: 866,000)?

There are over 1 million more 1914-Ds minted than the 1931-S ... >>


Say what? I figure there are only 327,000 more.

SirAnthonyAC

Woops... I originally mis-wrote "1,993,000" as the mintage for the 1914-D, then I did my math, then I corrected the mintage to 1,193,000 but of course... I forgot to change the total.

I'll fix it now.... ah, the typos!

BTW: Thanks ziggy29 for the response, that makes sense now.

291fifth

A HUGE percentage of the 31-S were hoarded at the time of release. The great majority of the issue probably still survives and most are in high grade. It is a very overrated coin.

The 14-D cents were not hoarded and had many years to wear out.

Shamika

<< <i>A HUGE percentage of the 31-S were hoarded at the time of release. >>


Very true. In fact, the coins were not generally available for some time after 1931 thus speculators went crazy when they were finally released. The number of surviving 31-S Lincoln cents are thus heavily skewed in favor of mint state examples. The same could hardly be said for 1914-D Lincoln cents. This is one of the reasons why one must be careful when evaluating coin values based on mintage totals.

LincolnCentMan

It's my understanding that over a fourth of the 31-S's were saved as mint state examples. There is a really high survival rate of 31-S's and in high grades. How many AG 31-S's have you seen? Compair that to the ease of finding a AG 14-D.

-David

ambro51

When you think about....they were playing a pretty strong bet doing that in the early 30s. The Depression was deep set.......those pennies saved meant real money back then.

streeter

just go around to shows and shops and see how many au r/b 31-s you can find vs. similar grade 14-d.

My bet is 100 to one.

31-s is very overrated. Frankly, it's getting a lot tougher to even find a true xf 14-d. And when you find one, you are going to PAY for it.

Sell your extra 31-S's ASAP and buy a 14-d, VF+.