Rarity

Is this coin really rear or over hyped. 

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It’s pretty scarce, low mintages. worth 10-20$ 

shahinur01018

 

Is this coin really rear or over hyped. 

There are 8 billion people on this planet. Brunei minted only around 80 thousand pieces of this coin.

tokul

shahinur01018

 

Is this coin really rear or over hyped. 

There are 8 billion people on this planet. Brunei minted only around 80 thousand pieces of this coin.

Not all 8 billion people are collecting coins as a hobby…….

Sjoelund

tokul

shahinur01018

 

Is this coin really rear or over hyped. 

There are 8 billion people on this planet. Brunei minted only around 80 thousand pieces of this coin.

Not all 8 billion people are collecting coins as a hobby…….

They still minted five time less coins that they have in Brunei. For standard circulation coin that is not a lot and they have paper dollars too.

We don't have one single member from Brunei…… so they probably don't collect coin down there……

There are 46 Numista members who list Brunei as their country. Most have 0 coins.

rsirian1

There are 46 Numista members who list Brunei as their country. Most have 0 coins.

I looked through the list for a swap with Brunei as a country! It's not in the list?

So did I and that's true. Then I looked at the list of all users.  The one with the most coins doesn't seem to be active but does show this coin in their collection.  

https://en.numista.com/echanges/profil.php?id=43095 

The degree of rarity is only one part of the equation. The desirability, i.e. the demand for an item, is the other major component, regardless of the fact there are over 8 billion people on Earth.

A mintage of only 10,000 for a circulating year of a Brunei coin may make it somewhat uncommon, but it remains affordable because there are not many collectors who specialize on Brunei.

Now imagine if any US 1986 circulating coin (1¢–25¢) had been struck for a total of only 10,000  pieces. There would be tens of thousands of collectors trying to complete their series who would be willing to pay hundreds if not thousands to obtain it. It would also be a great conversation piece, and that increases its desirability. One thing collectors like very much as well is to have items others can only dream of having. This too affects the desirability.

I have a couple of Newfoundland coins struck in the 8000–10,000 range, but this is not going to impress very many people, especially that those coins are very bland, with Victoria on one the obverse and the value in a simple decorative circle on the reverse.

The US Mint struck a little over 850,000 Indian Head cents for 1877, which is a small mintage for this type. Not all survived of course but you can still find quite a number of them on eBay. And yet, in mid grade (F, F+) it's worth over $1000. 

Desirability also explains why Islamic coins are cheap even when they are quite scarce. Few people can read Arabic, and very few of those coins carry anything other than script. So, all Abbasid dinars look the same, for example.

rsirian1

There are 46 Numista members who list Brunei as their country. Most have 0 coins.

I agree it's an unusual country to find coins from, but not quite in the same league as places like Greenland or Bhutan.  I only have 24 x Brunei coins and these are all very modern (mid 1970s to present day).  Almost all of my coins come from friends, family or local antique / junk shops, with very few being purchased for ‘real’ money, so a coin like this would be a real find.

The coin itself looks like some sort of commemorative, probably similar to the £2 and 50p pieces currently being issued in the UK.  Problem is, because it's unusual most people who come across it will probably take it out of circulation immediately if they find one, so calling it a circulation coin could be a bit of a stretch.  I've had a similar conversation over an Isle of Man 50p that I found in my loose change when I went to the Island some years ago, but isn't listed as a circulation coin.

Lots of modern base metal coins are simply unavailable but prices are low because they are not collected.  Even where there is demand prices are often not reflective of what the coins actually bring.  How often do you see moderns that list for pennies on Numista but sell for 20 or $50 on eBay?  

The Brunei modern are actually available despite there low mintages.  This probably means many were distributed in the US or imported.  Even in nice chUnc most can be found.  They are usually quite inexpensive when found.  

Higher denominations are tougher.  

I have 157 different coins from Brunei, and I'm still missing. They are all modern except a 1 cent coin, km3, from 1887 (VF-).