Almost every United States coinage series
has certain dates that are difficult to obtain for one reason
or another. Some dates have very low mintages. Coins of
these dates are key coins that are fundamentally rare. That
is, they are rare in all conditions because only a limited
number was struck. Other coins are rare in uncirculated
or higher uncirculated grades. These coins are called condition
rarities and are often key coins as well. Then there are
some coins that are available in all conditions, but since
the series is so popular, the more scarce dates become key
coins even though in absolute numbers they are not rare.
Finally, some coins are actually mint errors that become
rare because of collector demand. This category includes
doubled dies and repunched dates and mintmarks.
Some examples can be illustrative. The 1794
Silver Dollar had a mintage of 1,758. No matter how many
millions of collectors there are in the world, only that
number of collectors can obtain an example of this coin.
In fact the actual number is much less because this is only
a mintage number and does not account for the actual survival
rate for this issue. In addition many examples are impounded
in museums and national collections making them unobtainable
by the general public, even for a price. Certainly the 1794
dollar is a key date coin. Continuing with dollars, an 1872-S
Seated Liberty dollar can be obtained in circulated condition
for three to five hundred dollars. In mint state 65 it lists
for $131,250, clearly a condition rarity and a key coin
in higher mint state grades. The High Relief, Roman Numeral
Double Eagles of 1907 had a mintage of 12,367, not a tiny
mintage by any means. Yet because of the number of collectors
who desire an example, the coin is always in demand in all
conditions and especially in mint state. Finally, there
are thousands of different doubled dies in many series,
but there is none more famous than the Lincoln 1955 Doubled
Die Obverse coin. This coin has become a key date although
many other doubled dies, repunched dates and mintmarks go
unnoticed except by specialists.
The following list of key date coins does
not include proofs unless they are “proof only”
for the date. For example, the 1895 Morgan Dollar is a “proof
only” coin since no business strikes were released
for that year. Collectors would have to obtain a proof coin
to have a complete date set that included 1895.
Half Cent 1793, 1796 With Pole, 1796 No
Pole, 1797 Gripped Edge, 1802/0 Reverse of 1800, 1805 Small
5 Stems,1808/7, 1811 Close Date Large Cent 1793 all types, 1794 Starred
Reverse, 1795 Jefferson Head Plain Edge, 1796 LIHERTY, 1803
Large Date Small Fraction, 1804, 1807/6 Small 7, 1823,
Flying Eagle Cent 1856
Indian Head Cent 1877,
1888/7
Lincoln Cent 1909-S VDB,
1914-D, 1922-D Missing D Strong Reverse, 1955 Doubled Die
Obverse
Two-Cent Pieces 1864 Small
Motto, 1867 Doubled Die Obverse
Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle 1907 High Relief
Roman Numerals Wire Rim, 1907 High Relief Roman Numerals,
Flat Rim, 1920-S, 1921, 1927-D, 1927-S, 1930-S, 1931, 1931-D,
1932
Early Commemoratives 1900 Lafayette Dollar,
1904 Lewis & Clark Dollar, 1905 Lewis & Clark Dollar,
1915-S Panama-Pacific Quarter Eagle, 1915-S Panama-Pacific
Fifty Dollars Round, 1915-S Panama-Pacific Fifty Dollars
Octagonal, 1922 Grant Half Dollar Star, 1928 Hawaii Half
Dollar.
