Why the low mintage???

[Veto111 10]

Hi everyone

 

I am relatively new to coin collecting and would just like someone to tell me why is it that some coins are minted in such low numbers? 1965 afrikaans 1c, R1, 1931 tickey etc... etc...

 

If possible anyone with any history/knowledge of this please share it.

 

I bid a good day to you all

Veto111

 

P.S. Sorry for lame pun :D:D

[Pierre_Henri 96]

Different Reasons

 

There might be different reasons why some years have low mintage numbers and are thus scarce or rare.

 

Regarding 1931, an old time collector told me that during the depression years, there was not a high demand for coins, because the issues in circulation (1923 to 1930) was more than enough to satisfy demand. Therefore the Mint decided to have a very low mintage run in 1931.

 

They however, realized their mistake during that year, and in 1932 minted a very high number of coins to "make up" for the lack of coins in circulation at that stage.

 

An interesting story about the 1931 coinage is that when the Mint offered the 62 available proof sets to their then regular clients, very few had the money to place their order. A teacher from Port Elizabeth, who must have inherited some money, ordered 13 sets and got them all. He paid next to nothing for them.

 

He started to sell the sets in the 1960s and must have made a lot of money. Today a 1931 proofset (graded) must be worth near to a quarter million so if multiplied by 13 works out at a nice retirement package for a teacher don't you think?

 

Pierre

[jwither 17]

Hi everyone

 

I am relatively new to coin collecting and would just like someone to tell me why is it that some coins are minted in such low numbers? 1965 afrikaans 1c, R1, 1931 tickey etc... etc...

 

If possible anyone with any history/knowledge of this please share it.

 

I bid a good day to you all

Veto111

 

P.S. Sorry for lame pun :D:D

 

You need to distinguish between the mintages of circulating and noncirculating coins when evaluating scarcity.

 

The 1931 silver are major rarities by any standard because these coins were intended for circulation and though I'm not sure how many are left, the evidence available to me indicates that they actually did because the few I have seen were badly worn. This is in contrast to the United States (where I live) for many US coins with "low" mintages where generally they are actually still available or even very common because collectors and even the general public knew this and saved a disproportionate number of them.

 

Contrast this with the Afrikaans and English legend RSA coins you reference. Though these mintages are low with generally 20 to 50 pieces reported, I expect that most of them still exist and mostly in their original state. In my opinion, based upon the limited number of sales I have seen, these are among the most overpriced of all South Africa coins. I would vastly prefer to have any KGV proof outside the 1923 instead of them.

 

Another coin which is typically considered scarce is the 1949 1/, That coin with a proof only mintage of 800 is not scarce at all. It is actually a fairly common KGVI proof and is vastly overpriced given its actual relative scarcity. Those who do not think so are apparently fooled by the fact that no circulation strikes were issued that year.

 

But even with that fact, the fact remains that there are more 1949 proof 1/ in high grades (the NGC census listed 54 last time I checked) while no date prior to 1951 (except the 1923) has anywhere near 800 proofs and circulation strikes in comporable grade, at least at this time, I would definitely be a seller of this coin at current prices and absolutely would not be a buyer.

[Little Miss Muffet 83]

On the question of circulation and rarity. If 4 to 5 million 2008 Mandela coins were minted for circulation how come we dont see them or rarely see them in circulation??I have been given 1 for change.

Where are these coins???

 

I managed to get 60 straight from the bank. They were all together in one bag when the teller gave them to me.

What sort of grading would these coins have? They are all uncirculated but could have scratched against each other.

[Vertigo 10]

On the question of circulation and rarity. If 4 to 5 million 2008 Mandela coins were minted for circulation how come we dont see them or rarely see them in circulation??I have been given 1 for change.

Where are these coins???

 

I managed to get 60 straight from the bank. They were all together in one bag when the teller gave them to me.

What sort of grading would these coins have? They are all uncirculated but could have scratched against each other.

 

Hi , when they were first released i sent them to the NGC and got grades between MS63-67

They were in about the same condition as yours

 

hope this helps

regards Imraan

[Little Miss Muffet 83]

Thanks for the reply.

I woke up a bit late concerning these 2008 coins but we were in the small town of Montagu and thought I would try the bank there so managed to get these 60 and funny enough that is where I was given the one for change aswell.

So it seems people in small dorps are more backward than people in large cities.

 

But where are these 4 million coins? Bet one of the coin dealers on Bob bought a few million of them

[jwither 17]

On the question of circulation and rarity. If 4 to 5 million 2008 Mandela coins were minted for circulation how come we dont see them or rarely see them in circulation??I have been given 1 for change.

Where are these coins???

 

I managed to get 60 straight from the bank. They were all together in one bag when the teller gave them to me.

What sort of grading would these coins have? They are all uncirculated but could have scratched against each other.

 

They are likely either sitting in bank vaults (possibly that of the SA Mint or Reserve Bank) or are being hoarded. If for any reason 5R coins do not generally circulate, that would be a second reason.

 

In any event, I can promise you that these coins will never be scarce for the foreseeable future because both collectors and the general public are saving them.