What percent of all the remaining Large Cents and Half Cents are in the hands of EAC members?

STONE

In a thread from yesterday someone stated that EAC members seem to be "a much more upstanding and honest group of sellers" (the quote may be slightly out of context, but the same general message is being portrayed) than other types of sellers. Now, I'm not an EAC member, so I can't say from experience if this is true or not, but I rarely hear of a EAC transaction going very awry. And this is not to say that members, as a whole, of other similar organizations (JRCS, BCCS, LSCC, etc) are not equally as honest.

But, this idea about honesty and the seemingly large, close-knit, community of EAC collectors got me to thinking about how many of these Early Coppers these collectors/dealers have in posession as opposed to Early Coppers of average joe collectors/dealers.

So, what percentage of all Large Cents and Half-Cents, which still remain in the collecting community, are held by members of the EAC organization?

Some ideas for categories, broken down to accomodate different series', in the Early Copper genre of numismatics:

Of all the Large Cents left, what percentage of them, do you estimate, are in the hands of EAC members?
Of all the Half Cents, what percentage of them, do you estimate, are in the hands of EAC members?

Of all the Lib Cap (1793-1797) Half Cents, what percentage of them, do you estimate, are in the hands of EAC members?
Of all the Draped Bust and Classic (1800-1836) Half Cents, what percentage of them, do you estimate, are in the hands of EAC members?
Of all the Braided/Coronet (1840-1857) Half Cents, what percentage of them, do you estimate, are in the hands of EAC members?

Of all the Flowing Hair and Lib Cap (1793-1796) Large Cents, what percentage of them, do you estimate, are in the hands of EAC members?
Of all the Draped Bust (1796-1807) Large Cents, what percentage of them, do you estimate, are in the hands of EAC members?
Of all the Classic Head (1808-1814) Large Cents, what percentage of them, do you estimage, are in the hands of EAC members?
Of all the Coronet (1816-1857) Large Cents, what percentage of them, do you estimate, are in the hands of EAC members?

291fifth

Of the better dates and varieties in high grade, a very high percentage.

For common dates and varieties, especially those in less than condition census grades, a low percentage.

Just a guess.

ricko

I would tend to agree with 291fifth.... certainly a very difficult assessment to make with authority - but generally, I believe he is correct. Cheers, RickO

Walkerguy21D

I agree with 291fifth's observation. I think it'd be extremely difficult to get any kind of actual numbers assigned.
The earlier the type, the higher the percentage owned by an EAC member. I would hazard to guess that most of the surviving 1794's in any kind of halfway decent condition are owned by EAC members - many of them love this date. I'm told there is a sub-group within the EAC known as the 'Boys of 1794', with individuals owning dozens of the many varieties that exist of this date. I would think that most of the genuine 1799 and 1804 large cents are likewise owned by EAC guys.
For some data, I own roughly 60-70 large cents, including some middle dates in MS63/64 holders, but don't belong to the EAC.

PerryHall

There are tons of damaged and low grade common date large cents out there. Most of them are on eBay, dealer junk boxes, flea markets, etc.

shorecoll

I also agree with 291fifth. Some EACers don't actively collect late date varieties, cause you'll go blind attributing them

1793, 1794, 1799, 1804, 1809 many are in EAC hands.

MidLifeCrisis

<< <i>I would tend to agree with 291fifth.... certainly a very difficult assessment to make with authority - but generally, I believe he is correct. >>