Can you put a price on a Popuation 1 coin?

[Bruceswar]

I was just thinking about that.. Can you really put a price on a population 1 coin? Or is it all up to the buyer for the coin itself... Think for a second.. you can really name your price on a coin with a pop of 1... Where else are they going to get it.... any thoughts?

[Tradedollarnut]

You can ask whatever you want, but it doesn't mean you'll get it. A PCGS pop 1/0 coin I need was recently offered to me at $35,000 but I declined. I figured the coin at $20k due to the fact it has huge underpops and 5 in the same grade plus one finer at NGC. Plus I had recently paid just a bit less for a similar coin. I offered to pay $25k and was rejected. The dealer later sold it to someone else for less than I offered.

 

So what happened because the dealer asked too much? He has a pissed off ex-customer who will never deal with him again and he also ended up making less than he would have if he'd have just priced it fairly to begin with. Not too good all around!

[Bruceswar]

What about coins with with a star but no other higher stars... and only one of it...

[sanmary]

Alot depends on the coin. To me the pop 1/0 means little within many series. The finest Chain Cent would be a good buy, but the finest SBA not so.

[CarlWohlforth]

TDN has good insight into this question. As there is no established market you can try for comparable prices (like they do in real estate) or you can have an auction. I would look very closely at what TDN is saying...

[Tradedollarnut]

What about coins with with a star but no other higher stars... and only one of it...

 

That's not really a true pop 1/0.

 

The assignment of *'s is too new - much like 'cameo' at PCGS. Any premium can only be figured on a coin by coin basis based on the look of the coin. If there's lots of coins in that grade without the star, and the coin isn't WILD, I personally would pay very little premium for the holder.

 

[Leothelion]

I was just thinking about that.. Can you really put a price on a population 1 coin? Or is it all up to the buyer for the coin itself... Think for a second.. you can really name your price on a coin with a pop of 1... Where else are they going to get it.... any thoughts?

 

Depends on how old the coin is and having the insight on how popular that coin is!

If the odds are high that this coin can be duplicated in the next 24 hours or it's unlikely another one will surface in the next 5 years! I really have no way of making that prediction. I do know that I won't pay big bucks for high grade FS Jefferson nickels as I'm very aware of several raw collections that could easily have those coins to off-set any population numbers on a date. Another way to look at this is if I had the insight of knowing everyone who collects what I collect and having seen what's in all those collections and the fact that I could make an educated guess that the coin in question was certainly a "one of a kind coin" or a coin that very seldom surfaces for sale, only then will I pay dearly for it but not with stupid money because someone needs a registry point for their ego trip.

 

Leo

[cladking]

 

Depends on how old the coin is and having the insight on how popular that coin is!

If the odds are high that this coin can be duplicated in the next 24 hours or it's unlikely another one will surface in the next 5 years! I really have no way of making that prediction. I do know that I won't pay big bucks for high grade FS Jefferson nickels as I'm very aware of several raw collections that could easily have those coins to off-set any population numbers on a date. Another way to look at this is if I had the insight of knowing everyone who collects what I collect and having seen what's in all those collections and the fact that I could make an educated guess that the coin in question was certainly a "one of a kind coin" or a coin that very seldom surfaces for sale, only then will I pay dearly for it but not with stupid money because someone needs a registry point for their ego trip.

 

Leo

 

You'll never know all the coins in every collection whether you collect two digit buffaloes or pop top walking libertys. Pop reports are skewed by resubmissions and errors. Coins are lost and destroyed and many are never submitted for grading. It's impossible to really know that aren't pallets of any coin sitting in a government or private warehouse. If you mean this to say that nickels are more fun to collect raw or safer to collect raw than either statement may have merit, but it's not logical to simply refuse to collect high grade FS nickels because more may turn up. The implication of this is that no coins with low populations should be collected.

 

There are some coins which are fairly safe from pop increases and it would seem based on my experience that MS-67 '68-S FS nickels are in the same league as 1913 nickels in this regard.

 

I would be inclined to agree that buying late date nickels based solely on pop reports could be dangerous to ones budget over the long term. Most collectors do have some knowledge of the coins they're collecting and most are not necessarily sticking their necks out very far when they go after low pop issues. Keep in mind that late date nickels may expose one to large percentage losses but these are tiny absolute losses compared to older coins which ultimately are also risky. The nature of this risk may be a little different but its magnitude is far greater.

[EVillageProwler]

There are some coins which are fairly safe from pop increases and it would seem based on my experience that MS-67 '68-S FS nickels are in the same league as 1913 nickels in this regard.

 

If you look at the pops, nickel coinage of any series tend to be very tough in MS67 and better. The 1883 N/C is considered to be "common" in MS67 for the series, but it really isn't common in an absolute sense...

 

EVP

 

[truthteller]

Be careful on pricing and who you offer pop 1 coins to. Since this business is very competative, an offer too high may get rejected, and the 'mystery' of the coin and price is gone once the coin is offered and word of mouth kicks in. Be selective to whom to offer the coin. Price the coin with other pop 1 or pop 2 coins sold recently by auction within the same coin type category. If it is a particularly rare date, find one or two dealers who you trust and gauge a starting point.

 

TRUTH

[EZ_E]

This ties in alot with one of JTRYKA's earlier post: value vs. price. TDN valued the item at X price, well below the asking price. Apparently, some registry participants value top pops well over the market price and will overbid if necessary to mingle among the elite.

[Oldtrader3]

It depends on many factors, as others have said. I have an 1845-O/horizontal-O, No Drapery, AU58, Seated Half. This coin is a NGC Pop-1 coin. It is certainly rare, but what is it worth? I know what I paid for it several years ago. However, I have no idea what it would be worth now?

[BillJones]

POP-1 coins don't interest me much at all, especially when there are plenty of very attractive coins in the grades that are only a point or two less.

 

For me collecting is a compromise between quantity, rarity and condition. I don't want a collection that cantains two or three POP-1 coins. I'd much soon have a larger collection of great looking coins that are scarce to rare in the absolute sense, not just the preservation sense.