Is it possible for the demand for a given coin to exceed supply?
Coinstartled
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Either a unique piece or an issue with scarce or substantial avaialability.
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I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any Chain cents or 1804 Dollars at the LCS.
Collector, occasional seller
The basic laws of supply and demand would drive the price up until demand dropped.
1804 dollar is as good an example as any. Price it at $1000, and you'd have dozens of buyers just on this board alone. Price goes up (significantly), and suddenly, very few actual buyers.
Only on the ones I like.
I was just thinking about buying a half disme, but wouldn't you know I just cannot find one
My Collection of Old Holders
Never a slave to one plastic brand will I ever be.
LOL. Have you thought out your question? I'll bet the short answer is:
YES!
I have several examples of both that I will gladly trade you for a nice example of an 1864 SM proof 2 Cent Piece.
NOT!
Quickly counted ten make offers on the Heritage site. You can probably have one by the end of the week.
For every single coin there is a price at which demand exceeds supply and another price at which supply exceeds demand. For example, there is virtually unlimited demand for a 2017 quarter in VF at 20c, and virtually unlimited supply at 50c. It really is very simple.
Sure, in theory at some point price balances out supply and demand, if someone is willing to pay a high enough price or "stupid" money for it.
From a practical standpoint, I consider the answer to your question to be "yes".
This especially applies to non-US coinage where what exists is uncertain or the prospective buyer doesn't know who owns coins they want. In my current area of focus, there are in the vicinity of 40 to 50 coins I'd like to have a shot at buying. (Some are duplicates of the same date denomination where I'd only want one.) These include in prior auction catalogs, in the TPG population data, and plate coins in reference books.
Also in theory, the prospective buyer can have someone else go out and find it, as Stacks did for Lilly and DLRC is doing for Hansen. In practice, most of us don't spend enough to make it worth someone else's time.
I suspect there is quite a bit of this going on, especially for difficult to source but lower to moderately priced coins where it isn't worth the bother of placing the coin for sale.
This. Succinctly stated.
Absolutely YES!! And it even happens with new releases....People want them, flippers sell at high prices.....demand cools and prices go down....Cheers, RickO
For the scenario I gave of myself in my above post, how would you go about even finding these coins?
I know the coins exist, I don't know the exact quality every time but in every instance, I have no idea who owns it. For one specific coin (1752 Peru half real graded for wear AU-MS though maybe not actual quality), I even asked the auction house who previously sold it if they would be willing to help. No response of course.
The coin sold in 2002 for about $350. I suppose if I offered at least $10,000 they might have agreed to look into it but that was my primary point. No one is going to do that because it doesn't make any sense. This makes the post to which you replied literally true but a totally meaningless truism.
The only reason I can think others would not be aware of the point I am making is because it doesn't apply to what they collect or what they even know. For the collector or US or say, British coinage, practically every single coin is either common or where it isn't, it is expensive and prominent enough where someone is going to be able to find it.
99% of the time, what I describe isn't a problem because the buyer can find a substitute coin that is for all practical purposes essentially identical. Those who collect coins like I do cannot do that much of the time.
yes
Well, availability is a little different. For example, there is demand for 1913 Liberty Nickels at the current price. But that doesn't mean you can get one without waiting 10 or 20 years for one of the 5 to appear. But, to your point, offer $1 billion for a 1913 Liberty Nickel and one of the private owners will probably part with it.
Using your example, the tipping point is somewhere between $350 and $10,000.
I'm not sure I would argue it is a meaningless truism. It is true but you have to separate it from the idea of CURRENT VALUE. The very nature of pricing means the CURRENT price should be the supply/demand balance (more or less). The price at which demand outstrips supply is always less than this, maybe much less. The price at which supply outstrips demand is always much higher than this.
Even a coin with only a handful known can have a supply gut at a certain number. Offer $1 billion for a 1913 Liberty Nickel and all 5 might come loose although there is only demand for one at that number. You might argue that the ridiculous billion dollar price tag makes it meaningless, but that is a made up number by me. There is a number - $10 million, $20 million - at which two of the coins would become available even though only one person (you) is willing to pay that much.
For more common coins, even with only 100 known, the establishment of this price is more reasonable, I'm sure. We only fail to see this supply/demand scale because we only see the net result. If supply currently outstrips demand, the price quickly adjusts to make it equal. If demand outstrips supply, the price quickly adjusts to make it equal.
The only reason the statement might be meaningless is because nobody bids that way. Everyone sticks pretty close to current guides which is the supply/demand equilibrium price. But if you posted a $1600 bid for 1 oz gold eagles, I guarantee you would be flooded with more than you could buy. And if you posted $1400 1 oz gold eagles on BST, I guarantee you would be flooded with more buyers than you have coins.
Yes, of course, like when the mint decided to make only 50,000 Apollo 11 gold....oh wait a minute 😀
Rest assured that if it ever does happen the Chinese will swing into action to fill the supply side.
From Econ 111
Supply = Demand
Also Econ 112
There can also be a shift in demand, and/or a shift in the supply curve, which is different than the quantity demanded at different price levels or the quantity supplied at various price levels. Paul Samuelson.
1933 20$ Gold ? Demand would outweigh supply!
Not when it comes with an eight figure price tag.
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
Agree with those who understand and express the economic relationships among Supply, Demand, Quantity, and Price.
Advanced thinking will include concepts of elasticity, substitution, replacement, and time & money opportunity costs..
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
I think I am interpreting the OP differently from you but "meaningless truism" was the wrong term. Those who agree with you appear to be using a "plug number" which by definition means that demand will equal supply. If this was the actual question, I don't see why it was even asked since presumably everyone knows it.
I interpreted the original question as asking whether there are coins where the demand is greater than the supply, at the current "market price". I use market price in quotes because it's evident that many coins don't have an established price at all. Catalog prices are mostly "made up" and many if selling at all, must sell in private transactions where there is no prior sale available and no comparable benchmark to set the price either.
If this wasn't the question in the OP, then I agree with your point.
Yes ... of course.
At least six people want a 1913 Liberty nickel.
Perhaps you had a different kind of question in mind.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
I think that was the OP's initial thesis, but it got broadened in the subsequent discussion.
The initial question was kind of boring, taken literally. Sure there are multiple buyers for the available1894-S dimes, 1916 quarters, 1913 Liberty Nickels, etc. But that is pretty restrictive.
Until Mr Hansen finishes his set I will answer yes.
It appears that most people here are confusing "demand" with "quantity demanded".
I don't think it's confusion so much as the need to define "demand".
Every U.S. coin has virtually unlimited "demand" since it has value - either face value or intrinsic value. The only meaningful way to discuss the demand is in terms of the actual cost of acquiring it.
You forgot the Edgeworth Box.
I have a 1960 world silver coin graded Pcgs MS 65 - pop 1/0.
I would say demand exceeds supply.
If you choose to offer it and no one wants it could supply exceed demand? ?
Put it in an auction and only one person will want it at the winnig bid.
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
Exactly. AT what price?
A no reserve auction, of course.
That is the value proposition, isn't it? Free price discovery should find the supply/demand balance. That's what makes this question either terribly mundane or incredibly nuanced.
I phrase the questions to be as broad as possible. Brings about better discussion and the occasional 200 post donneybrook.
"Is it possible for the demand for a given coin to exceed supply?"
Ultimately, of course, the demand for every numismatic coin exceeds the supply.
If it didn't then the coin would be worth only face value or its weight in metal like a corroded and damaged 1986-D cent.