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Bruce Lorich's British
Chronicles
"Rarity" & Survival Appreciated |
As someone who has both collected and dealt
in "rare coins" for several decades, I frequently ponder the concept of
"rarity." In numismatics we are constantly calling coins rare, or very rare,
sometimes extremely rare, even excessively rare on occasion. But what do these
familiar terms actually mean?
Let's first turn our attention to how
rarity has been defined in two exceptional references, as it applies to another
area of collecting. The Encyclopedia Britannica says the following on
this topic: "A.W. Pollard once defined book-collecting as 'the bringing
together of books which in their contents, their form or the history of the
individual copy possess some element of permanent interest, and either actually
or prospectively are rare, in the sense of being difficult to procure. This
qualification of rarity, which figures too largely in the popular view of
book-collecting, is entirely subordinate to that of interest, for the rarity of
a book devoid of interest is a matter of no concern. On the other hand, so long
as a book (or anything else) is and appears likely to continue to be easily
procurable at any moment, no one has any reason for collecting it. The
anticipation that it will always be easily procurable is often unfounded; but
so long as the anticipation exists it restrains collecting.'"
 Much room for thought in those words, as they relate to
the collecting (or indeed the saving) of anything. This very reasoning, in
fact, largely stands behind my decades-long interest in English coins. Although
the history of England and the people themselves continue to enchant me, and
although I have traveled the UK from top to bottom over a period of almost 25
years, I am first and foremost a numismatist: it is the coins of this
land which continue to fascinate me. And, as Pollard might have put it, I'm
eager to experience them because I am not so sure that the best-quality coins,
the most eye-appealing coins, will always be "easily procurable."
Because of their places in history (their palpable connection to the
people and the notable events of history), because of their marvelous variety
and superbly detailed designs, but especially because of their rarity in
the better preserved, sharper states of preservation, I find in these coins a
never-ending source of charm. Aside from the visual enjoyment, however, I learn
from these coins by studying them.
In an early 19th-century coin of
King George III, I still feel the monarchy that lost its greatest possession,
the American colonies. In an 1820s or 1830s coin, I see the finery and splendor
of the Georgian age, the cultural period of the Romantics, whose world of
untamed nature was fast disappearing. In a Victorian coin, I find myself
transported in imagination to a time of gaslights, before electricity, before
the automobile and electronic communication, in fact before most of the
inventions which are now part of our everyday lives. In Victoria's Young Head
coinage, I get a feel for the innocence of those decades when the queen was a
young ruler. In the Jubilee coinage, I see the face of the queen as Jack the
Ripper saw it. In the Old Head coinage, I can touch the pennies and shillings
and sovereigns of Sherlock Holmes, a fictional character to be sure but a
representative of the English gentleman who still considered going to war to be
a lark -- the wars of that time have been called "Victoria's little wars."
Innocence of that sort would soon be gone forever.
 But the historical transport goes much farther back if
you care to look. In the case of Anglo-Saxon coins of the 7th through 11th
centuries, the coins are one of the only remaining remnants of history that we
can actually see, and even touch, to connect us to those mysterious centuries,
where most of what is known of the British peoples and their warrior-chieftains
is a few lines about selected years in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, as
well as the very scattered documents which scholars hunt for to interpret --
things like land grants and ancient death notices. This was also the era of
invading Vikings, whose blood mixed with that of native peoples to forge new
versions of Britons. Even older are the Celtic coins, while the Roman coins of
ancient Britain are like part of a map of that land some 2,000 years ago. Yet
I've barely scratched the surface of English history here. These coins are
portals to history itself.
Even more than all this shedding light on
history, though, the kinds of English coins I deal in (and collect) are rare
enough, as a class, that they lend their temporary owners a special glow of
pride. It's a privilege, really, to be able to study, admire and possess what
most people have not discovered. Most living people don't know anything about
this esoteric and very special world called numismatics. It's one of the
magical things about coin collectors that draws them together, this sharing of
what amounts to almost secret information.
If you are new to English
coins, viewing the standard reference works in the field, as well as price
lists and auction catalogues, it would be easy to conclude that these coins are
not especially rare. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those books and
dealer lists belie the fact of rarity when it comes to quality. Only in the
best states of preservation may the details of the coins be fully appreciated.
Only the best coins sparkle with the luster of the times that made them. But,
in the highest grades, many of these coins are extremely elusive, found only
occasionally. It's not money that gets you one, but rather opportunity. Almost
all of the Gem coins in my own stock, for instance, have been obtained one at a
time, over a period of many months. I seldom come across a "find" of more than
a few coins at a time. Numerous phone calls, countless emails, and thousands of
miles of travel are spent on the chase for quality in any given year. As a
specialist dealer, I sometimes have the chance to buy splendid coins which most
generalist dealers never see. Years spent developing sources of supply around
the world means that individual coins of special quality "find their way to me"
sometimes. Doubtless the same facts pertain to other specialists in really nice
English coins.
In the past few years, the supply of choice coins
certainly has been dwindling. The collector base has expanded greatly, just
since the year 2000. This has resulted in a price rise across the board, not
just for the finest quality coins. And the chit-chat from around the world is
that English coins have just begun a long ascendancy in valuations. It seems to
be more difficult each year to find coins that are especially choice. Prices
are no longer static, but rising. Time will tell if this remains true, but
pressure is definitely being put on the supply as demand continues to increase.
An old saying in numismatics goes "If I had only bought it back then . . ." but
perhaps today is the then that future collectors will look back upon
yearningly.
I've set the stage,
explained the current circumstance, but still I have not defined "rarity," have
I? Aside from any general understanding that high-quality English coins are
elusive, even the so-called "common dates," it helps to see that there are
several classes or types of rarity.
The famous bibliophile John Carter
explained them in his ABC for Book Collectors as follows: "Absolute
Rarity" refers to books (or coins or any other objects) of which few were
issued, so they were originally rare. "Relative Rarity" concerns degrees of
survival: the number originally issued is of little importance because
relatively few have survived, relatively few ever appear on the market and
those that do are in demand, which means they disappear from dealer inventories
or sell to eager buyers at auction. The vast majority of English coins fall
into this "Relative Rarity" category, due to a history of melting and
re-coinage, and of course because of disappearance through their intended use
as money. Most perished long ago. "Temporary Rarity" is a misleading, false
lack of items because they are being speculated in or held off the market in
quantity. The vast majority of U.S. coins fall into this category: the
collector base is big and there is a mania for those of the highest numerical
grades, but the plain truth is that many U.S. coins in high grade are
high-priced only because of speculation that the next owner's ego will demand
that more be paid to obtain said coin than was paid by the previous buyer. It's
particularly true of coins where the degree of quality is difficult to see
(MS69 versus MS66, for example) but where differences in price are extreme.
These coins may be fun to own, but where is the value in them?
And
finally there is a category that bookman Carter called "Localized Rarity,"
which refers to items that seem rare because they are being sought outside the
area of their origin. A 1940s Walking Liberty half dollar in Gem BU (MS65)
condi-tion could be special in Tokyo, for instance -- whereas it is quite
common in its country of origin, America.
My own experience indicates
to me that the famous English rarities easily pass the test of rarity when
considered as "Absolute Rarity." The vast majority of English milled coins (and
of course almost all hammered issues) pass the test of "Relative Rarity"
because so few have survived the ages in pristine condition. "Localized Rarity"
does not pertain either: if anything, choice English milled "type coins" now
exist primarily outside the homeland as a new generation of collectors in
America and elsewhere has removed them to other places. I have never seen large
quantities of superb English coins, not once during the 25-plus years of my
involvement. Now and again a great collection appears on the market, and for a
short period of time truly nice coins are available, until they are absorbed by
the collecting fraternity. But I am unaware of any significant speculation
which has held choice coins off the market -- so the idea of "Temporary Rarity"
seems not to apply to British numismatics.
 Nonetheless, I believe firmly that the rarity of many
English coins remains quite unexplored, despite the considerable advances shown
in the 2003 edition of Spink's Coins of England, the standard reference
in this field. Those coins of which only a few pieces were made are obviously
of undisputed rarity, even though demand hasn't been intense enough yet to
price them out of the reach of most collec-tors (but that seems to be changing
as price records are now being broken almost every month on the London auction
scene and elsewhere). Still, a great English coin rarity generally costs under
$20,000 whereas U.S. coins of similar rarity are valued at much higher levels,
even into the millions. I don't imagine such an opportunity to buy those
important English rarities will persist too much longer. Many advanced
collectors -- some new, some of great experience -- are more eager than ever
before to obtain the rarest English coins.
My experience in seeking
supposedly common English "type coins" -- those dates or design types which
were the coin of the realm during the period of their manufacture -- has led me
to believe that these coins are not being held anywhere in quantity. They
simply do not exist in any quantity in the most desirable states of
preservation -- whether EF among hammered coins or Gem Uncirculated or Proof
(MS65 or PR65 or finer) conditions among later coins.
The milled coins
of the middle 1660s through about 1800 have escalated considerably in price
during the past few years, sometimes jumping by 50% or more in VF and EF grades
in that time period, while the higher grades have soared by comparison with the
prices of previous decades. It seems their true rarity in high grade (their
"Relative Rarity") has at long last begun to be recognized by a broad spectrum
of collectors. Curiously, what have not really "caught on" so far are some of
the most beautiful of all England's coinages, those of the 19th century, made
for George III and IV, William IV, and Queen Victoria. If you doubt their
rarity, though, try locating a superb Victoria Young Head silver sixpence --
supposedly one of the more common types.
This leads me to the heart of
my topic here. Most misunderstood when it comes to the availability of really
choice (MS64 or PR64 or better) English coins is the matter of "Relative
Rarity." The popular misbelief, which persisted even in England for many
decades, is that coins of which a million or more were minted cannot be
considered truly rare in any real sense. Perhaps this error in thinking was set
in place by its ap-pearance in print in the 1950 edition of Spink & Son's
book, The Milled Coinage of England. On page 108 of that book, the year
1870 is singled out as the beginning of the era of com-mon coins, for that date
was the beginning of the million-plus mintages. Even after stating that
circulation use and melting have diminished the number of coins struck, the
book's authors concluded that ''the rarity of modern milled coins is generally
proportional to the rarity of the number of coins struck, so that the method of
showing rarity after 1870 [by mintage figures] serves as a fairly reliable
guide." In my view, this was an erroneous statement founded upon a lack of
ap-preciating the concept of "Relative Rarity." But as I just explained,
escalating demand both in the UK and elsewhere for these coins has caused a lot
of re-thinking of that outdated idea. (So has the certified grading of these
coins in America, for the number of MS63 and better English coins -- MS63 being
where the concept of "choice" begins numerically -- is phenomenally small.) The
times, as they say, they are a-changing!
To conclude this discussion of
"rarity" (especially rarity of condition) with a horror story, I would like to
mention an incident I witnessed years ago at one of the annual summer ANA
Conventions. I was reviewing the coin trays of a major London dealer, buying
the very few truly nice coins they owned. I asked the price of one coin,
whereupon one of the firm's staff numismatists picked up the coin from its tray
and turned it over and over with his thumb while deciding upon a price. Each
time he rolled it over, his thumb rubbed the coin's surfaces! (This was not an
unusual practice, and even a Proof might be picked up and turned over again and
again by thumb.) I passed on that coin and asked him not to do that with the
other coins I had selected. I bought (and picked up with my own hands) those
which hadn't suffered from this abusive "thumb rubbing." I think this anecdote
tells us much about why most "Uncirculated" English coins show some rubbing on
their surfaces, and why so many Proof coins show lots of marks, discoloration
and fine scratches. I used to say that, some day, the British dealers would
turn on their lights, use magnifying glasses, and begin to handle coins
properly, and that they would suddenly discover that almost all of their
choicest coins were vacationing abroad. But the future is now, the new
generation of collectors of English coins is here, and the "Relative Rarity" of
the minuscule population of surviving super-nice coins is beginning to be
appreciated.
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Bruce Lorich - Gem British
Coins With
nearly a half century of personal experience, Bruce Lorich specializes in
scarce, pristine quality British and World coins. |
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