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What is the rarest coin you own?

Started by physics-fan3.14,

61 posts in this topic

physics-fan3.14

physics-fan3.14

Posted
Posted

This is a spinoff of bajablu's thread. I find this question to be more interesting, actually. Tell us about it, and show pictures if you have them. It can be a US or world coin (even though Mark might fuss about world coins in the US forum ;) )

 

My rarest US coin is my 1827 O-140 CBH, with a rarity of R-4+ (80 to 200 known) It is a gorgeous, original VF-30, and the first bustie I bought.

 

My rarest world coin is a Moroccan 25 cent piece from 1924. It has the thunderbolt and cornucopia privy marks, and while Krause doesn't give it an exact mintage, good luck finding it anywhere. After searching for seven years on Ebay and other places, I have only seen 2 (one of which I bought :) )

 

So, share your rarities and tell us your stories.

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gmarguli

gmarguli

Posted
Posted

I own two different Sudanese coins that are pieforts struck in copper (regular strikes were silver). Both have a mintage of only 5 coins.

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jtryka

jtryka

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I would probably say my 25-S Saint, though I might have some busties that are as rare. I really don't own many truly "rare" coins.

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TomB

TomB

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I think that quantifying rarity via die marriage adds a confusing dimension to the question. After all, the die marriage might represent only a tiny fraction of the overall mintage for the date, mint, type and denomination. Additionally, die marriages are often categorized by extant population and not by original mintage of the die variety. This leaves at least three levels or definitions of rarity to consider.

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rbrown4

rbrown4

Posted
Posted

Nice rarities everyone. I have always struggled with this question with my own collection. Rare in comparison to what, population of similar graded examples, rarity as noted by the rarity factor, rarity as in mintage numbers, etc. At this point I am not sure what my rarest coin is.

 

One that has often made me wonder as to the actual rarity is this 1940 D Repunched Mintmark which shows a secondary D totally separated and west of the primary D. Acccording to Cherrypicker's Guide it is one of about 10 know repunched mintmarks on any coin that are totally separated. Discovered by Lee Hiemke, it is apparently a very rare variety and in very high demand. It has a Universal Rarity Rating of URS-3 which according to the 4th addition of Cherrypickers means "only 3 to 4 known". I have always wondered about the accuracy of this data.

 

As a side note, this was part of my father's washington quarter collection housed in Capitol Plastic. He never new he had this it was just the 1940 D he chose to put in his set. Graded MS-65 by NGC.

 

It is kind of difficult to see in the images but is the raised points to the left of the Primary D.

 

Rey

1940DRPMObv.jpg

1940DRRMRev.jpg

RPM.jpg

 

 

Rey

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zrlevin

zrlevin

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I don't really know. (shrug)

 

Maybe my 1805 Draped bust dime? There are probably thousands of those, though.

 

Some of my circulated commems are certainly conditional rarities.

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Oldtrader3

Oldtrader3

Posted
Posted

The most rare coin that I have owned was an AU58, 1845-O over horizontal O, no drapery, seated half. At the time, it was a condition census because it was the only specimen known. The other scarce coin that I owned was an extremely nice AU58, 1925-S, Saint that would probably be MS62 by today's market grading standards.

52632.jpg

25-SSaint-1.jpg25-SSaintrev-1.jpg

 

My current most rare coin is probably my NGC, MS64, 1910-P Barber Half with only (10) graded higher by NGC.

10-PBarberhalf.jpg10-PBarberHalfRev.jpg

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WoodenJefferson

WoodenJefferson

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1904-S Barber half dollar. Although there were over 1/2 million (553,038) minted in San Francisco in 1904, just try and find one now in half-way decent condition at a reasonable price. Mine is a lowly VF-35 that I got 30 years ago before all the hub-bub hit. I paid $75 for it then which to me was considered a small fortune.

 

This was one of the few coins that I purchased years ago that really took off. It's still in it's original card board 2X2 because I do not have an ablum for Barbers.

 

It is very possible with todays grading standards for to get into the low XF category, that would be kinda neat.

 

Maybe one day.

 

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braddick

braddick

Posted
Posted
I own two different Sudanese coins that are pieforts struck in copper (regular strikes were silver). Both have a mintage of only 5 coins.

 

I purchased a foreign coin (can't think of what it is exactly and too lazy to go find it) from Greg that has a cat on the reverse and it's ICG graded.

 

It is my only ICG graded coin and it has a mintage of 25.

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coinsarefun

coinsarefun

Posted
Posted

Well, the rarest that I own would have to be this one.

According to Cherry Pickers Guide there are

between 9-16 in existence.

 

 

 

1967SMSWashingtonQuarterDDOwallp-3.jpg

 

 

 

But my favorite would be :grin:

 

 

 

 

12891967.jpg

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World Colonial

World Colonial

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Posted

The coins I won with the lowest mintage are my two South Africa 1934 proofs, both with a mintage of 24. On circulation strikes, I do not know as it is a toss up but a few candidates include my 1853 Bolivia 1/4 sol, 1755 Peru NGC MS-65 1/2 real and 1810 Chile 1/4 real.

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BillJones

BillJones

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I guess you want to go just by the date, and not include die vareities, this might be my rarest coin. It's an 1829 quarter eagle. The mintage was 3,403 and the number of survivors according to Early U.S. Gold Coin Varieties by John Dannreuther and Harry Bass, Jr. is between 70 and 90.

 

1829QuarterEagleO.jpg1829QuarterEagleR.jpg

 

Among my silver coins as a date this 1805 half dime has to be among the rarest. The estimated number of survivors is around 125 pieces in all grades.

 

1805HalfDimeO.jpg1805HalfDimeR.jpg

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jgrinz

jgrinz

Posted
Posted
Rare split planchet Kennedy. :o

Picture005-4-1-1.jpgPicture006-8-1.jpg

 

 

I used to have a 1883 Nickel with that type of error - they called it a clam shell errror - Is it still called that ??? or is there a new fangle term ??

 

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SkyMan

SkyMan

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As far as rarest, are we talking absolutely or conditionally rare or what?

 

My 1938 Walking Liberty proof half is one of 8,152, most of which survive, so in an absolute sense it is not rare. However, last I looked there were only 4 graded CAMEO between both NGC and PCGS. Also, in the whole Walker proof series there are ~75,000 coins and last I looked only 12 of them were CAMEO'd (and I strongly suspect some of those 12 are retrys for higher grades).

 

sh1938wlh1.jpg

 

As far as potential value (e.g. what I could sell the coin for) goes my 1802 dollar would be the rarest:

 

DrapedBust_MS61.jpg

 

Then finally you get to much more esoteric forms of rareness, like toning. I've got a couple of coins that FOR THEIR SPECIFIC DATE/MM I've never seen anything like them.

 

CappedBust29MS63.jpg

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