United States Key Date Rare Coins
Trey Cox 10.3.2017
Going back to the birth of our great nation’s currency, in 1793- every series of coins struck have dates that are harder to obtain that the rest. Some of the criteria that make a coin a key date are obvious; like a lower mintage than the others in a particular series. These types of coins will always be fundamentally rare. Some coins are extremely rare in high uncirculated grades. These are known as condition rarities and can also become key dates.
Whatever makes a coin a key date one thing has held true in the rare coin market, key date coins have always commanded a premium over other coins. As an example, take a look at the $2.5 Indian Head Gold series. The key date is 1911 Denver. The branch mint in Denver struck 55,600 coins that year. Compare this mintage with the same date produced at the main mint in Philadelphia where 704,000 coins were made. Now for the price difference- a 1911 Phillie graded MS64 is listed at $1100 in the PCGS price guide while the 1911-D In the same MS64 is listed at $20,000. What a difference a little “D” makes!
In this blog we will cover some of the more popular key date coins from United States currency. We will also spot light a few the most famous key date coins that have traded for $100,000s and even into the multi-million dollar price levels. These coins may be price prohibitive for most collectors but are certainly fun to dig into the history behind them. We will also try to offer some of the more collectable key date coins that we always acquire when the opportunity presents itself.
The first series we will take a look at is the Morgan silver dollars. There are a few coins in the series that qualify as bonafide key dates. 1895 is a proof only year that makes the cut as the king but we will focus on the coins that were actually made for commerce.
1889-Carson City Dollar
In 1889 the mint started striking dollars again after a four year hiatus. It was a tiny mintage of only 350,000 coins; of course the surviving population is much less. These factors make the 1889 CC the key date coin for the series; simply put this is one of the rarest most collected dates in the Morgan series.
Let’s look at the stats
Total Original Mintage : 350,000
Surviving Population all grades : 14,418
Survival rate : 4.1%
Finest Known Example MS 68 Record Price $881,250
We currently have 2 examples to offer
1889-CC PCGS VF35 @ $2350
1889-CC PCGS VF25 @ $1475
