Most overrated US coin?
craZ4coins
Posts: 81 ✭
To me, that is a no-brainier.
I have always considered the 1856 Flying Eagle cent to be the most vastly overrated US coin.
Some debate whether the coin is a pattern or first year of issue. While an interesting academic exercise, with most favoring the pattern theory, it really is a distinction without a difference IMO.
To would be rare is to see a major auction without this offering - most have multiple examples.
If truly a pattern, it would probably be the most common issue. Yes, there are many variants that clearly are patterns and some are rare. It takes a knowledgeable collector or dealer to discern the nuance differences between varieties.
The value has flat-lined for decades
I have a vast collection with many rarities but have never owned a 1856 FE - never have and never will.
Comments
1909-S VDB cent and 1937-D 3-legs Buffalo are way up on my overrated list.
To an extent, the 1907 High Relief $20 gold is overrated. According to the Red Book, 12,367 examples of that coin were minted. According to "Coin Facts," 10,500 of them still exist. (8,000 with the wire edge and 2,500 with the flat edge.) The vast majority of those pieces are in some level of Mint State.
Despite these numbers, the coin sells for a five to six figure number in grades from EF-40 to MS-69 using "Coin Facts" as a guide. The lowest "Coin Facts" price is $4,500 in Fair-02. If the coin is part of a "Low Ball Set," I'd be willing to wager that it would sell for more than that if two of the right collectors went head to head in a major auction because our hosts have graded only one piece at that level.
I once called this coin the highest priced common date coin in the world in one of my essays on this piece.
Of course, collector interest in huge. This is definitely a "trophy coin" for those who can afford to own one. It's the type of piece that a rich casual collector would like to show off and brag that they have one.
I consider the 1787 Brasher Doubloon to be the most overrated.
Owners are invited to send their coins to me for disposal.
Steve
1909 s vdb cent
I know this is not an expensive coin, but as a kid I always thought the 50 D nickel was over rated. It was more in my price range at the time.
It was overrated. A couple of dealers cornered the supply and for once were able to let them out in staggered manner than maintained the price for many years. As a kid I thought about buying one as "an investment." Thank goodness i didn't. The coin had a retail value of $35 in "BU" in 1965 when $35 was actually "real money." I remember having a fairly nice steak at a local restaurant for $3.25 at the time.
I gotta go with MORGANS!
When I first started collecting in the seventies, it was hard to find a show where EVERY table wasn't stocked with almost the entire run of dates and MM. With multiples of the SEMI keys.
Many many many of the cases had dozens and dozens of BU ...rolls.
Coors, this was when commons were $3 for BU and $5 for P/L
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Insert witicism here. [ xxx ]
The glory days.
I agree with this. In the case of the 1937-D 3-legs I would go so far as to delist it from the Red Book.
When I was dealer, buying a selling 3 legged Buffalo Nickels was pretty easy. You could make $100 on the turnover very quickly. That's not a big mark-up on a $1,000 + coin, but it was a quick flip.
Morgan dollar. Anyone that has one and doesn't know much about numismatics think that it's worth a fortune.
1856 is not even close to the most overrated coin, especially those in Mint State. s-VDB, 50-D nickel, and many of the Morgan dollars are vastly overrated. I assume that you are talking about real rarity rather than condition rarity. The 1856 is an important coin in the transition between large/half cents and small cents. It is rare and historically significant.
I like BillJones example of the 1907 High Relief $20.
At Summer FUN this past year, Larry Lee had at least 16 of them in inventory on display scattered across a couple cases. I say at least, because I stopped counting them at that point.
I recall some years prior being at that same dealer's table when he announced he had just purchased his 50th '09SVDB Lincoln, giving him a full roll.
1916-D Mercury dime.
1909 -S VDB.
I don't think any coin is overrated if it has a nice strike/surface/luster. Over priced is a different story.
"A dog breaks your heart only one time and that is when they pass on". Unknown
Morgans, 1909 VDB - S. & 1916 D Merc.
My first thought was 1909 s vdb as well. This is not a rare coin at all and was saved in high numbers in AU and MS. In the series, finding a nice 1914 D was tougher.
I started off collecting Indian Head Cents as a kid. When the new albums came out with Type I and Type II 1886 IHCs I thought it was a bit contrived. The 1909S IHC I think is a bit overrated too. Being the end of the run, they were also saved in AU and MS condition. By contrast, finding a nice 1877 is difficult. .. or an 1872...
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Would agree with the 09-S VDB.
The 1856 FE cent is a great coin, especially if you collect all the known varieties!
I would love to own a 1907 High Relief Saint. So many have been monkeyed with that really nice ones don't come to market in droves
I always tought the 41-S Walker was extremely over rated
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
1895 proof Morgan. No more scarce than the other proof dates and yet it's multiples of the price.
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The most over rated coin is the 1964 Kennedy half dollar. It just HAS to be. Think in terms of the general public. Not coin collectors. Everybody, and I mean everybody, thought at the time it was issued that it was really something worth holding onto. They still do. Without a doubt, it is the most over rated U.S. coin. No question about it.
While some folks think Morgans are over rated, I disagree. Because they aren't your cup of tea is one thing, but they are for lots of others. Please tell AuroraBorealis his Morgans are overrated. For that matter, tell anyone who collects high end, medium end, low end, whatever end, Morgans that. Perhaps more to the OP's question is what is the most "over-hyped for what it is" coin. My guess is that the OP was not looking to dis an entire series, just exemplify one issue.
My thought is the bicentennial quarter. Scads of those laying about!
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Good guess.
I agree with all the statements in the responses except the dis on the1895 morgan - while as common as the other proofs it is worthy of the big premium IMO because there are no business strikes. That said, they make circulated 1794 dollars look like a bargain.
Why?
Hoard the keys.
Early in my collecting days in the mid-1960's, the most overrated coins were the 1960 and 1960-D small date cents. At their peaks, the 1960 was fetching $450 per BU roll ($3600 in today's dollars), while a BU roll of 1960-D was around $22 (or $175 in today's dollars). They were considered to be the key and semi-key coins of the relatively young Lincoln Memorial series, with mintages of around 2 million and 65 million respectively. In terms of real purchasing power, both rolls today will bring about 3% of what they sold for in their glory days.
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Over rated, over hyped, and - most critically - over priced. Most examples above have hit one or more of these categories at some point... and there will always be examples that can be cited... much like the coin market in general, there are cycles.... Cheers, RickO
At their peak, 1950-D nickels sold for around $1200 per BU roll and half that amount for a circulated roll. I found three of them searching rolls in the early 1960's, and local dealers were ready buyers. Since that time, they have held up slightly better than the 1960 and 1960-D small date cents, losing only 96% of their purchasing power value instead of 97%.
To get an idea of how much things have changed, in 1964 a roll of BU 1950-D nickels was worth as much as 40 rolls of BU common date Morgan dollars (pre-1921). Today a single roll of BU common date Morgans is worth about 3 rolls of BU 1950-D nickels.
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Well... ...classic bashing threads are no better than the modern bashing threads.
I think we all can look at the prices of some coins and just shake our head in wonder that anyone is willing to pay so much. We don't like coins that we consider unartistic, minor, historically unimportant, illegally made, not intended for circulation, etc, etc, etc.
Prices are simply the result of aggregate available supply in the face of aggregate demand at that price. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so long as you are seeking "beauty" rather than holders then you're doing it right.
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Copper 1943 cents---grossly overpriced mint errors.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
the 1909 s vdb cent.
Curiously the '60-D sm dt has more than quadrupled in price since '04. It was then the least valuable of all Lincoln cents and even the current year was higher! It's gone from 60c to $2.50/ roll.
It's an exceedingly common coin that has found more demand in recent years.
Someone said 1909-S VDB and the 3 legged buffalo nickel. I have got to agree. Being a collector of buffalo nickels I can say I've never understood what the big deal is. 3 legged Buffs are NOT rare by any stretch of the imagination. You can find one any day of the week. In fact I sold the ones I have because I just don't care for them. Talk about hyped up!!
I can see how an abraded die three legged nickel can catch the public's (collector's) imagination more easily than I can see how an abraded mint mark on a '22-D cent can.
1909 S VDB is way up there in my books. Took me much longer to find a nice ms65 09-S. Haven't even tried looking for the 14-D yet.
The 1914-D is harder that either of the 1909 cents in true Mint State. The is often a hoard and set aside factor connected with first year of issue coins.
Bitcoin. It's the celebrity of coins. Gossip all over the media about it and posing from magazine covers likes this:
I mean, it's not ever a real coin.
No such animal.
``https://ebay.us/m/KxolR5
The most expensive coin which is overrated imo is the 1916 SLQ. You can always find them in whatever grade you want. At a Heritage Platinum Night I believe at a FUN show around five years ago, there were 17 of them being auctioned.
Re coins which the rest of us can afford, I have to agree with most of what people wrote above.
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"Sou Mangueira......."
What meant by overrated? Is that synonymous with overpriced? Readily available? Too popular?
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Mostly I think people just mean "too popular". They don't much care for it and wouldn't spend the money for it.
Any Barber coins.
Included on this list are many modern coins that are hot right after the mint sells them which subsequently cool down to obscurity. Call me a "modern basher" if you like, but if you have noted the pattern over the years, you know I'm right.
Overrated is something that is no going to hold its current price in the months or few years going forward.
Any common date Morgan dollar with wild toning that sells for multiples of what the same coin would sell for if it were blast white. Paying a huge premium for colorful tarnish that may or may not be artificial never made any sense to me.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
With the above thoughts on "overrated," I'll contribute two in my area of interest.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Aren't most MS CC MORGAN dollars over priced & over rated? They can be had by the "truck load" anytime.
Many of the coins mentioned in this thread are legendary. The 1856 Flying Eagle, 1909-s vdb, 1937-D three legged Buffalo, 1950-D, 1916-D and even the 1960 Small Date need no explanation to anyone who started collecting coins in the 1960's heyday. Far from being over-rated, these are the coins that practically every young collector lusted after for years. Over-priced or more common than previously thought - maybe. So what? That's called "demand".
The only ones of these that I ever obtained were the 1950-D and the 1960 Small Date, and that was after prices came way back down to earth. Over-rated? Only if you think that $6,000 coins are the only thing going. The essence of coin collecting is having a key coin targeted and then working, striving and finally nailing a long-sought after key coin and then reveling in the sense of pride in accomplishment.
At least, that's what I always thought.
I knew it would happen.
That's not modern bashing because 80% of mint products are cheaper 3 years after issue than they were immediately after they went off sale. I've always advised collectors to buy on the secondary market to avoids initially high prices. And I've always warned them my advice will prove to be bad advice when moderns finally start getting notice.
I believe this day has come. I believe that moderns finally turned the corner a couple months ago and will now go higher. So far prices are more "firming" than increasing but even explosions take time. I think by spring I might wish I had bought a few of the more recent products; especially the S-mint quarters.