Price/Grade Curve Question
124Spider
Posts: 1,071 ✭✭✭✭✭
Hi,
My recent purchase of a 1916 SLQ brought to focus, for me, an oddity of the price/Grade curve. Specifically, most key/semi-key dates seem to have an ever-steeper curve--the higher the grade, the more the price accelerates each step. But many seem to have a much flatter curve--low grades are immediately expensive, but the price goes up quite gently from there.
Examples that ramp up more steeply as the grade goes up are common; see, e.g., the 1893-S Morgan dollar.
The first coin I noticed with the flatter curve was the 1913-S type 2 buffalo nickel, which practically begged me to get a high-grade example, given the curve. Others that I remember are the 1909-S VDB cent, the 1955 DDO cent, and now the 1916 SLQ; there are others.
I'm curious about this dichotomy--why are there lots of coins which get rapidly more expensive as you get higher in grade (the curve I would expect), but a fair number that start out high, but only get higher gently as the grade goes up (the curve that is surprising to me)?
Thanks.
Mark
Comments
Have you taken into consideration populations at each grade level in your observations. Is there a correlation there? Are steeper curves consistent with accelerated declines in populations as you go up the grade curve?
Yes, you nailed it. Also, even if the pops don’t decline, but if they still remain consistently low, I believe the price will climb steeper as the grade increases.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/