Searching for Rarity

The most valuable coins in numismatics are often those with the lowest mintages or the smallest number of survivors. Just about everyone knows that there are only fifteen 1804 Silver Dollars, but few people can afford the millions of dollars it takes to purchase one. When one looks at the mintage of the 1909-S VDB Cent and compares it to the mintages of every other cent in the series, it is easy to get excited about a mintage of 484,000 coins. Wouldn’t it be great to find an affordable coin with a mintage that has the potential to spark future price appreciation if demand increases just a little?

Have you looked at the mintages of modern silver commemorative coins?

One of the best deals out there is the uncirculated version of the 1996 National Community Service Silver Dollar. Demand for the coins was low, either out of fatigue with the whole commemorative coin program or the excessive cost borne by collectors in order to purchase all of the Mint’s issues in a given year. Or, it may have been that National Community Service is not a hot button with the general public. No matter the reason, the final sales figure for the Unc. version came to a grand total of a mere 23,463 coins. Even as small as that figure sound, you can still buy one in PCGS MS70 for under $200. Compare that to the price of a 1909-S VDB Cent or an 1804 Silver Dollar.

Here’s another – in 2014, the United States Mint at Philadelphia struck a silver dollar to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The mintage was limited to 350,000 across all product options. Debut sales, as reported in the January 8, 2014 issue of CoinNews.net were the weakest, by far, of all the commemorative silver issue from 2010 to 2104. As of March 9, 2014, sales of the Uncirculated and Proof versions stood at only 61,876, as reported by SilverCoinsToday.com. By December 14, 2014, CoinUpdate.com revealed that the combined sales reached 85,426 units, and it was reported that the Uncirculated version had been closed at 24,574 units (more or less). Orders for the Proof version ceased on December 30, 2014 and the final sales figure has not been determined. If these figures hold, the Civil Rights Act silver dollar will be one of the rarest of all the modern commemorative dollars. Here again, collectors can find these for under $200 in PCGS MS70 and, of you search carefully, you can find them for under $100!

If you are searching for rarity and value, give modern U.S. commemorative coins a look.