1920 S Soveriegn - a true rarity 0

[Zebo]

There has been much written about the 1920 S Sovereign as being the rarest sovereign minted. There was a flurry of activity during the 2012 - 2015 time frame with three of the four known (now five, and I believe possibly seven or eight) changing hands. One of which was a specimen coin that was actually thought to be struck in 1926 when the mint closed. Two of the sovereigns are held in institutional holdings and are out of the reach of the public. That leaves only two or three that are currently known, including the specimen, that are being held in private collections. 

There can only be this small number of collections that can be complete  - Australian sovereigns 1855-1931.

The fifth sovereign was offered in auction in 2018, but went unsold. I've been waiting for it to reappear and am wondering if it was sold by private treaty or just taken off the market by the Owner. It will be interesting if and when it reappears and what it will sell for at that time. The 2018 auction estimate was low in my opinion and it wasn't hyped or cataloged as the others that sold earlier. Hopefully they will do a better job next time. 

 

[World Colonial]

Yes, unlike so many US coins where the scarcity or rarity is exaggerated, a legitimate rarity.

I suspect many high profile world coins predominantly trade hands privately.  Too many from the series I collect which haven't publicly sold.

[GoldFinger1969]

51 minutes ago, World Colonial said:

Yes, unlike so many US coins where the scarcity or rarity is exaggerated, a legitimate rarity.

I suspect many high profile world coins predominantly trade hands privately.  Too many from the series I collect which haven't publicly sold.

(1)  What U.S. coins do you consider their scarcity exaggerated ?  Are you talking Liberty or Saint DE's ?

(2)  Are there European equivalents to HA or Stack's that do high-end in-person or online auctions ?

[World Colonial]

24 minutes ago, GoldFinger1969 said:

(1)  What U.S. coins do you consider their scarcity exaggerated ?  Are you talking Liberty or Saint DE's ?

(2)  Are there European equivalents to HA or Stack's that do high-end in-person or online auctions ?

I wasn't referring to any specific coin. 

The answer to your first question is the scarcity of most US coins is exaggerated but I can comment further in another thread.  It's almost always based upon grade where there multiples at minimum that are essentially identical and the coin isn't hard to buy.  Also, in the context of some specialization where there is nothing unusual about it.

To answer your second question, many all over Europe.  Take a look at Sixbid.com and you will see what I mean.

[Zebo]

One interesting story associated with the 1920 S Sovereign that is now part of a institutional collection that is no longer available for private collectors.

Capt. J. J. Cullimore Allen wrote one of the earliest reference books on Sovereigns. It was published in 1965. At that time, Allen's collection was not complete. He was missing the 1920 S sovereign. 

 Capt. J. J. Cullimore Allen died in 1970, but D. G. Liddel of Spinks & Son fulfilled one last promise - to obtain a 1920 S sovereign for the collection to make it complete. This was accomplished in 1978. 

 For sovereign collectors, I consider Allen's book as one of About ten to have in their library.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Zebo
Typo

[GoldFinger1969]

If by "rare" you mean < 10 coins available or even a few dozen....then you are talking 6 or 7-figures to buy these coins regardless of condition and that to me means that 99.999% of collectors will never have interest in buying one.

[World Colonial]

1 minute ago, GoldFinger1969 said:

If by "rare" you mean < 10 coins available or even a few dozen....then you are talking 6 or 7-figures to buy these coins regardless of condition and that to me means that 99.999% of collectors will never have interest in buying one.

"Rare" and "scarce" are subjective but under no sensible standard can a coin that isn't that hard to buy be considered rare.  That's why US collecting finds a need to over use this term as marketing.

[Zebo]

Rarity is measured in degrees and has slightly different interuptations world-wide. The below chart are just a few of those interuptations.

 

[World Colonial]

29 minutes ago, Zebo said:

Rarity is measured in degrees and has slightly different interuptations world-wide. The below chart are just a few of those interuptations.

 

I am familiar with the Sheldon scale.  Most US collectors will still consider a high R-1 "rare" anyway.  It's not like with the 1920-S sovereign which presumably every collector would recognize.

More generically, US collectors (at least here and PCGS) mostly use rarity in the context of a particular (or minimum) TPG grade or specialization (die variety).  There is nothing unusual about it, as practically every coin is "rare" if the criteria is defined narrowly enough.

One I collect has a recorded mintage of 1,040,000.  I presume if every "change jar" across the planet could be searched, maybe as many as several thousand might exist.  But the vast majority are probably damaged or of such low quality that, though the coin might be absolutely common, it has little practical relevance.  It's somewhat comparable to the 1901-S quarter only more extreme.  This coin isn't scarce but only a very low percentage and low number exist in grades above VG.

Edited May 26, 2020 by World Colonial