Even Mint State coins will show some nicks and contact marks. To protect investors, Eastern Numismatics recommends that investor s only purchase coins that have been graded by an industry accepted third party grading service. Rarity is a prime determinant of a coin s value. If all other factors are equal, a coin of which 100 specimens are known will be worth considerably more than a coin of which there are a million known. Most of the world s price records for rare coins are held by pieces that are extremely rare.
Rarity depends upon several things.
The original mintage is an important factor. Generally the more pieces that were minted, the more that are apt to survive today. Sometimes coins were hoarded, with the results that mintage figures are not particularly meaningful. This is especially true for the Morgan type silver dollar struck from 1878 to 1921. The government produced millions of these large silver dollar coins in response to political pressure from the West to utilize newly mined silver.