Most expensive/rarest year of the cheapest/most common coin in your collection.

I recently found a 1967 French 5 centimes in Uncirculated condition and added it to my collection. I was quite surprised at the catalogue price for this year due to its lowish mintage. $25 compared to 0.45c at MS62. (Not my coin imaged below, just an example of 1967)

N#2
https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/france-5-centimes-km-933-1966-2001-cuid-1128318-duid-1269029
 

And although I would never dream of making such money from my coin, it did strike me as probably the most expensive/rarest coin I own from the cheapest/most common circulating coin ever in the history of coin collecting, I mean it is now 2025 and these French 5 centimes coins are still everywhere in bulk buys…

With one exception, that of the US Dollar/Cent currency, which other members have a modern rare boring coin which outshines all other years around it and exceeds in catalogue price?

I don't usually go for rare dates, because I collect coins by type, but I can think about two coins.

1. Austria 5 schilling 1936

N#14765

This is the rarest year of this type, with mintage of 1.5 million, compared to 3 and 5 million minted in other two years. However what adds to its rarity is that it is graded in MS64.

2. Another coin I have, but it is not a part of my collection is Soviet 1966 20 kopecks. 

N#763

The exact mintage is unknown, but it is estimated to be between 2000 and 3000. Unfortunately, my coin is in relatively bad condition (I'd say F-low VF), but can still fetch 30-35 euros, if you find a right buyer. (If someone wants to swap it, I will be available to swap in the summer)

Ma9nWaRr10

I don't usually go for rare dates, because I collect coins by type, but I can think about two coins.

1. Austria 5 schilling 1936

N#14765

This is the rarest year of this type, with mintage of 1.5 million, compared to 3 and 5 million minted in other two years. However what adds to its rarity is that it is graded in MS64.

2. Another coin I have, but it is not a part of my collection is Soviet 1966 20 kopecks. 

N#763

The exact mintage is unknown, but it is estimated to be between 2000 and 3000. Unfortunately, my coin is in relatively bad condition (I'd say F-low VF), but can still fetch 30-35 euros, if you find a right buyer. (If someone wants to swap it, I will be available to swap in the summer)

USSR 1966 20 kopecks - that is an absolute beauty, exactly what I was looking for 👍 

What an interesting question.

I suppose for my part, the 2015 “Britannia” £2 jumps to mind. 650k in 2015, but nearly 3M in 2016, then 6M 2021, 4M 2022.

Oddly enough, I only have the 2015/16 issues.

N#70398

Or any of the 2019 A-Z 10p coins. 220k in 2018, only 84k in 2019. I'd have to look through, see which 2019s I have. Maybe only one or two.

A Collector

What an interesting question.

 

I suppose for my part, the 2015 “Britannia” £2 jumps to mind. 650k in 2015, but nearly 3M in 2016, then 6M 2021, 4M 2022.

Oddly enough, I only have the 2015/16 issues.

N#70398

 

Or any of the 2019 A-Z 10p coins. 220k in 2018, only 84k in 2019. I'd have to look through, see which 2019s I have. Maybe only one or two.

I’m laughing „A-Z 10p coins“ I wanted boring coins, they are 27 individual alphabetical masterpieces… how many of them did you pick up in circulation? I asked my family to look for them and they found none! You must have one hell of a collection if these are you most dullest rarities 😎

2½ Gulden - Juliana

1969 (Fish Mint Mark)

Mintage:  1 200 000

N#736

Ha, I suppose the A-Z are a bit more special than the normal 10p coins. I guess I was thinking more of coins with mintages over more than one year, and where one year is more valuable than the other by some margin (2019 being the valuable year).

I've had about 30 coins through normal change, though not a full set (Yet!). Funnily enough, it's largely been this year. Think I had 9 designs at the end of 2024. I'm up to 21 designs now. No idea why but they're suddenly about. Only 2x 2019 though. I've finally decided to “cheat” & got some bags of change from the bank. Annoyed being this close but don't want to buy them, that's really cheating. Not sorted yet. 🤞

Tbf, I have a love/hate with them. I don't see them as special per se as they're not commemorating an event & think they're a bit “gimmicky” but they do circulate and I can appreciate them artistically. Certainly some beauties in them.

(E.g. 800 years since signing of Magna Carta vs “D” is for double decker bus. The latter just doesn't “hit” the same way. Just me being awkward I'm sure 🙃)

I have quite a few

Greece 100 Drachma coin - Alexander the great, issued as an inflation coin - mostly seen with 1992, 1994 or 1998 date. 1990 dated examples are quite scarce - N#568

Yet the coin is common in collections and has no special value, despite a minting of under 1 million, compared to 100+ million for 1992/94. The coin was quite large and was similar to 50 and 20 drachma coins. It was supplanted in 2000, by a series of 500 Drachma coins, then Greece went all Euro.

 - N#70

Australia 1972 5 cent piece - These coins were usually minted in very high volumes from 30 to 150 million per year. But 1972 was just 8 million coins and hard to find. There is actually a premium for 1972 coins not from a set (Although 1971 - 74 sets are quite scarce too). Also Australian 5 cent coins back to 1966 still circulate, so you could technically find a 1972 coin in your change. 

- N#5788

1946 Aussie Penny, Australian Roo pennies are generally dirt common and in most cases, a coin from 1946 is also common as its immediate post war and countries were scrambling to get currency out.

Roo pennies were usually issued in jumbo numbers each year for growing Australia and they circulated in several islands like Papua New Guinea, Solomons, Nauru etc. Most years saw around 10 - 70 million coins minted at Perth and Melbourne mints, with some Indian and British help every now and then. But 1946 saw just 363,000 pennies minted in Melbourne. Unlike most average grade Aussie roo pennies, you will not pick this up for under a dollar, a worn fine example like this is easily a $50 or more coin.

Nice examples so far, and great idea for a new thread! 
 

Here is another Australian one:

Australia 1923 Halfpenny

Australian half pennies — even KGV ones — are extremely plentiful and can be purchased in 1kg bulks for around the $AUD20-$25 mark, and frequently turn up in bulk world lots. The exception of this is the 1923 half penny, which is valued at $1150 in VG, $1750 in F, and $3750 in VF. (Renniks 29th).

Mint records suggest that 1,113,600 halfpennies were minted in 1923, but the majority were dated 1922. In fact, only 2 pairs of dies were used to strike 1923-dated halfpennies, which quickly deteriorated. As a result, die cracks are a common diagnostic of genuine 1923 halfpennies. (I assume this is the reason they switched to the dies from the previous year after the fact).
 

The mintage of halfpennies with the date ‘1923’ is estimated to be ~15,000. (Just 0.2% of the almost 7,000,000 halfpennies minted in 1922)!

hi,

specialised in swedish coins, i'm lucky to have the rare years of N#1470 , 1910 and 1927.

Mintage of these years doesn't reach 40.000,

average of the other years is over one million.

Agree: Great idea for a new thread.

IM94

Nice examples so far, and great idea for a new thread! 
 

Here is another Australian one:

 

Australia 1923 Halfpenny

 

Australian half pennies — even KGV ones — are extremely plentiful and can be purchased in 1kg bulks for around the $AUD20-$25 mark, and frequently turn up in bulk world lots. The exception of this is the 1923 half penny, which is valued at $1150 in VG, $1750 in F, and $3750 in VF. (Renniks 29th).

 

Mint records suggest that 1,113,600 halfpennies were minted in 1923, but the majority were dated 1922. In fact, only 2 pairs of dies were used to strike 1923-dated halfpennies, which quickly deteriorated. As a result, die cracks are a common diagnostic of genuine 1923 halfpennies. (I assume this is the reason they switched to the dies from the previous year after the fact).
 

The mintage of halfpennies with the date ‘1923’ is estimated to be ~15,000. (Just 0.2% of the almost 7,000,000 halfpennies minted in 1922)!

Well you stumped me there, its a true rarity along with the 1930 Penny and 1925 Penny.

Our main circulation  with rarity with Kiwi Predecimal coins is the 1935 Threepence

Most years of our 3d (1933 - 1965) were pretty common with between 1 million and 6 million issued per year. The series only started in 1933 and both 1933 and 1934 were very common years with a generous 6 million coins issued for each year (NZ in 1935 had 1.4 million people), so none were needed in 1935 - but with the release of the 1935 Waitangi crown (A true rarity with just 1,128 issued, yet it never circulated as it was sold by subscription and at 50% over face), some collectors decided they wanted a full proof set of 1935 coins and that included 3ds.

However they wanted just 364 coins for the proof sets, the Royal Mint said “no way Jose” and that the MINIMUM order would be £500 worth of the coins or some 40,000 pieces. So they ordered them plus the 364 proofs! So they sent away for them and back came 364 glimmering 3d coins for the proof sets and 40k coins in standard finish for circulation.

However the public knew the 1935 3d coins were a low mintage and they disappeared from circulation quickly after release in May 1936 (Nothing ever happens on time in New Zealand!). Within weeks dealers were offering 1/- per coin and then 2/6 per coin or 10x its face value. Yet judging by wear on these coins, some did circulate for ages - not every one was super aware, collected coins or had access to a radio in 1936. Now the 1935 3d will cost you at least $150 for a worn one. My one is a cleaned Fine/gFine example and it was good value at $300 some 5 years ago. The obverse is really sharp, but George is looking a little flat!

An Uncirculated or proof one will cost $1000+, a normal 1930s 3d will cost $2 or less as the silver is only 50% and only 0.7 gram of it. You need 44 of them to make one silver ounce!

Plus it does not help the super common 1933 coin looks very similar to 1935.

„Greece 100 Drachma coin - Alexander the great, issued as an inflation coin - mostly seen with 1992, 1994 or 1998 date. 1990 dated examples are quite scarce - N#568

Yet the coin is common in collections and has no special value, despite a minting of under 1 million, compared to 100+ million for 1992/94. The coin was quite large and was similar to 50 and 20 drachma coins. It was supplanted in 2000, by a series of 500 Drachma coins, then Greece went all Euro.“

This one I find strange, I too have quite a few from 1990 - as do many other members (I often wonder if the mintage is wrongly recorded) especially as the 1998 with ca. 7 million has the smallest collection percentage from members with 3%, yet the 1990 ca. <1 million has 42% 🤔

King

„Greece 100 Drachma coin - Alexander the great, issued as an inflation coin - mostly seen with 1992, 1994 or 1998 date. 1990 dated examples are quite scarce - N#568

 

Yet the coin is common in collections and has no special value, despite a minting of under 1 million, compared to 100+ million for 1992/94. The coin was quite large and was similar to 50 and 20 drachma coins. It was supplanted in 2000, by a series of 500 Drachma coins, then Greece went all Euro.“

 

This one I find strange, I too have quite a few from 1990 - as do many other members (I often wonder if the mintage is wrongly recorded) especially as the 1998 with ca. 7 million has the smallest collection percentage from members with 3%, yet the 1990 ca. <1 million has 42% 🤔

Some members either collect by type, have a dateless example or don’t care about selecting the correct year line.

Worldwide collection

 

Some members either collect by type, have a dateless example or don’t care about selecting the correct year line.

Definitely not the case in this discussion, if you check out all the members who have them marked for swap … more than enough members who do care to put correct dates (especially when swapping). So I agree with @King that there is an error in the mintage and it is probably at least 94.900.000 instead of 949.000.
Maybe the referee for Greece (@DoubleEggbert56 ) has some local info on the mintage?

BramVB

Worldwide collection

 

Some members either collect by type, have a dateless example or don’t care about selecting the correct year line.

Definitely not the case in this discussion, if you check out all the members who have them marked for swap … more than enough members who do care to put correct dates (especially when swapping). So I agree with @King that there is an error in the mintage and it is probably at least 94.900.000 instead of 949.000.
Maybe the referee for Greece (@DoubleEggbert56 ) has some local info on the mintage?

Hello,

While I am only the referee for Greek notes, it definitely seems that there is an error in that year line. Somebody must have dropped a few zeros from the correct mintage, as 1990 examples seem both plentiful and inexpensive. However, Greek Wikipedia lists the mintage as 949,484 coins, so…

I also checked the SCWC (2019) and there are no mintages listed for any of the dates.

Either way, something is off here.

Probably is, the Greeks would want to start a new issue off with a bang.

Plus I noticed many countries, when they had serious inflation and were releasing new coins with a higher face value, or just the normal case of a note becoming so worthless and ruined (Low value banknotes take a lot of abuse and coins are much more durable), they usually make the first year issuance, a huge one so the old notes can be bought in and destroyed and the new coin is bedded in.

The coin replaced a 100 Drachma note from 1978 in pretty worn shape by this stage. The Drachma had devalued a lot since 1978. Back then the 20 Drachma was the biggest coin and there was a 50 Drachma note, which was a large nickel coin by 1980 and then a much smaller aluminium bronze one by 1986.

DoubleEggbert56

BramVB

Worldwide collection

 

Some members either collect by type, have a dateless example or don’t care about selecting the correct year line.

Definitely not the case in this discussion, if you check out all the members who have them marked for swap … more than enough members who do care to put correct dates (especially when swapping). So I agree with @King that there is an error in the mintage and it is probably at least 94.900.000 instead of 949.000.
Maybe the referee for Greece (@DoubleEggbert56 ) has some local info on the mintage?

Hello,

 

While I am only the referee for Greek notes, it definitely seems that there is an error in that year line. Somebody must have dropped a few zeros from the correct mintage, as 1990 examples seem both plentiful and inexpensive. However, Greek Wikipedia lists the mintage as 949,484 coins, so…

 

I also checked the SCWC (2019) and there are no mintages listed for any of the dates.

Either way, something is off here.

Hmmm interesting that there is actually no official mintage figures for the entire run of this coin from Krause (SCWC) and thus it is not just 1990 that could be an unproven figure but all years. I always thought 1990 was just off, but as other members have commented, there are possible reasons for this disparity, and I never really want to upset the „apple cart“ so to speak, when it comes to mintage figures at least. 
 

However in this case I now really think that they are all just bogus, or certainly some years figures are, surely the mintage figures should be deleted if SCWC don’t have any figures available? And more importantly Numista shouldn’t be responsible for un-corroborated figures which are then being used by other sources?

From an earlier forum debate;

https://it.numista.com/forum/topic79179.html

The only other mintage figures I can find are from ucoin which are clearly just copied from Numista.

Just found this today…

With recorded mintage at just 1m, this was a bit of a find.  Odd that the Rev seems to be in better condition the Obv.