VKurtB

I nearly always prefer OIP/OGP.

On the number of collectors?
Even aside from definitional differences, it's not possible.

SPAM - this poster tries to sell at every turn, and is not even posting links to the coins being requested. Beware.

@murder69 is nothing but a spammer and huckster.  He is promoting his eBay site and trying to sell in nearly every post.  I would beware of this member.

In the COMMERCIAL sense, what makes a coin rare is an excess of demand over supply, usually by a wide margin. In the TECHNICAL sense, rarity is determined by raw mintage. There can be a coin for which only 5 exist, but only 3 people want it. 

This forum is not your personal venue for hawking your coins. The marketplace forum is the place to sell coins. Please stop spamming this forum.
And, while I have your attention, intruding on other posters threads, trying to sell them coins for which they are not looking, is in poor taste.

It’s more than you think, but fewer than there needs to be. We need to wean people OFF of YouTube videos. 

In the COMMERCIAL sense, what makes a coin rare is an excess of demand over supply, usually by a wide margin. In the TECHNICAL sense, rarity is determined by raw mintage. There can be a coin for which only 5 exist, but only 3 people want it. 

But the Mint clearly did. I’m not sure whether marketing spin or government employee spin is responsible.

In the COMMERCIAL sense, what makes a coin rare is an excess of demand over supply, usually by a wide margin. In the TECHNICAL sense, rarity is determined by raw mintage. There can be a coin for which only 5 exist, but only 3 people want it. 

Yes, but haven’t we all?

Newbie logs on. Claims to have a rare error coin. Unanimous experts say no. Newbie argues. Feelings get hurt. Now where have I seen this before? Oh yeah, right HERE. HUNDREDS of times. Nothing new. 

They don’t exist.

I’m feeling an “I told you so” coming. 

Keep in mind that maybe about 10-12 years ago, someone won aa ANA convention gold medal for a comprehensive exhibit, gathered over many years, of road rash.  

All of these are large date, they are actually very easy to tell apart. I always look first at the distance of the 2 from the rim and the shape of the 2. 

clame = claim?
peace = piece?
peaces = pieces?
ware = wear?
 
Come on. Even in 1915 the striking rate was shorter than one a second. Please study more. Functional illiteracy is not helping your cause. 

Wow! When did MS63 1921 Morgans go THIS high? Last I looked they were $25ish. 

The beginning of sanity. 

In January of this year, at the Estrel Hotel in southeastern Berlin, Germany, a greatly reimagined World Money Fair convened. This is a huge show, that is under new management and management philosophy. COVID threatened to end this show’s run permanently, but new leadership with new and some purloined ideas, has put the show on the path to renewed greatness. Gone are many “sacred cows” of the past. The 2025 fair will run Thursday through Saturday, rather than Friday through Sunday, in order to give participants a better opportunity to get home to do normal business the following week. 
 
One brand new idea is the World Money Fair Club, made up of numismatists interested in an enhanced experience (read: discounts and special products and services). The first several hundred members were issued membership numbers at random at the show, and had the opportunity to strike for themselves a separate commemorative medal in addition to their numbered medal.
Below is my numbered medal, randomly drawn:
 


 
The medal is roughly the size of a U.S. half dollar and is housed in a capsule which is mounted in a booklet a little larger than a standard casino playing card. 

Above I mentioned US Mint customers as one indication.  Post above mine mentions registry set members.  There are also registered users at Heritage and GC, though Heritage includes more than just coins and some proportion of non-US-based collectors.
Then there is eBay which currently has (right now) about 1.7MM US listings, another 1.6MM for world (including Canada), and 175K ancient and medieval.  This is an even less precise measure, because it's not all by US based sellers and it contains a lot of overpriced material that will never sell or coins collectors don't actually want, but it is a data point, imprecise as it is.
You may know number of coin club members with ANA affiliated clubs.  Number of dealers is another indication, but no idea how this compares to the past.  My assumption is fewer dealers than previously but if not, definitely B&M. 
Checked in ATL recently and there seem to be about half a dozen in the metro area that I would describe as traditional hobbyist dealers with a similar number of bullion or "investment" sellers.  (World Numismatics, the one with the best inventory here when I was a YN in the 70s, closed about a year ago.)  Not counting pawn shops or "We Buy Gold" outlets.  Number of coin club members for the metro area from a prior review of the ANA website indicated maybe a few hundred.  This is for a population approaching 6MM now.  I wouldn't call ATL a numismatic desert, but it's not the NE US either.

The beginning of sanity. 

The United States Mint said, years ago, during the beginning of the State Quarter series, that there was an insane number of coin collectors based on how many albums, folders, and maps were being sold for State Quarters. Many were given as gifts. How many survived? We may never know. We know for certain that the number of collectors had been overstated. My son’s maps were completed with all uncirculated coins, and remain “upstairs in the man cave” today.

Being as familiar as I am with the “older” pre-Obama Swiss banking secrecy situation (both my father and his brother, my uncle, had Swiss numbered accounts - all re-onshored during the Obama administration), I believe that there will be further drip-drip-drip “new” hoards or mini-hoards coming out of Switzerland. Only Americans were affected by the gold prohibition. The Swiss banks sold U.S. gold to clients worldwide. What condition? Well, that’s the question, ain’t it? 

Morels? The expensive mushrooms?