What is your Lowest Mintage Coin? 0

[Numismatic, A.A.S.]

U.S. or World....

[kbbpll]

My profile pic. The exact mintage is not known, but one source says "likely less than a couple hundred" exist, in both SP and MS (mine is SP). 83 graded across all three US TPGs. Technically it's a "variety" though.

[JKK]

1896 proof Barber half, mintage 762. Front has hairlines, looks like slider album residue. Probably wouldn't grade above PR-61 for that reason. Reverse is omfgstunning, like above 65 stunning. Thus, PR-61. Maybe 62 if I caught someone on a real good day.

[Revenant]

I think that has to go to my New Zealand Kiwis. I think a couple of years had mintages of 2,000-2,500. Some are more like 5,000, 8,400 or 10,000, but they're all really low for what's essentially a modern bullion issue. My lowest mintage "real" coin and not NCLT is probably the 1888 Netherlands 10G with a mintage of about 35,500.

[World Colonial]

Proof, 1936 South Africa half crown which was 40.  Circulation strike, almost certainly my 1752 NGC XF-40 Peru 2 reales which is recorded at 208. 

I have seen both coins more often (especially the first) than many other coins in the series I collect with much higher recorded mintages.

[physics-fan3.14]

I have an AH1277 Gold Benduqi from Morocco (minted around the time of the US Civil War). Mintage is unknown, but there are 4 known to exist in the world today. 

I also have an Essai (pattern) where Stephen Album said there were only three made, but then a fourth was discovered. 

[AcesKings]

1864 Proof Indian Cent, Est. 150-190.

[Zebo]

1984 Four Crown Isle of Man Half Sovereign (NCLT)

Mintage 20 proof Version had mintage of 12

 

My lowest mintage circulating coin is 9,803 with less than 300 surviving (reportedly)

Edited November 27, 2019 by Zebo

[Walkerfan]

A 1921 D Walking Liberty Half at 208,000 minted.  

I also have a 1885 CC Morgan at 228,000 minted.  

Both are MS 64s.

The former is an NGC and the latter is a PCGS.  

[kbbpll]

I think this is my lowest mintage US coin. I think it might still be the lowest mintage commemorative half dollar at 21,335 (technically NCLT I guess).

[erwindoc]

Per NGC Coin Explorer, this 1887 proof Liberty nickel has a mintage of 2,960.  I don't think that I currently have anything lower.

 

[Star City Homer]

World coins and low mintages go hand in hand.  I do have some French Territory essais where the mintages are in the low 100s.  At one point I had a Uruguay essai of the 1930 10 cent in gold, mintage was 60.  I loved it, but never truly delved into the Uruguay coins and finally sold.  It did spark my love of art deco medals though as the designer of the coin did many medals, and in the usual rabbit hole fashion I've ended up with more than a few medals where the only explanation is 'well, it's art deco and I like it'.

As for what I currently have, and not including essais, provas, or proofs (the French would win here in my current collection), I can turn to Albania.  The circulation base metal and silver coins generally were in the 500,000-2,000,000 range IIRC.  The gold coins had much smaller mintages.

For one of the first types, the overall mintage was 6000, however the first 100 and the last 5900 had a design change.  Of the 100 minted, 90 were documented as melted (and this is reasonably supported by auction appearances....though I suppose you never know what might be buried in a European collection...).  On the revers, by the prong at the 8 o'clock position, you can see a fasces.  After the first 100 were made, the fasces was removed.

For the larger denominations the mintages were in the mid 2000s.  By 1937 and 1938 the largest 100 FrA had mintages of 500.  These last did have reverses that were noting events (anniversary  of the King's reign, marriage), but the silver ones contemporaneously produced did share this and were circulating coinage.  I 'presume' the same for the gold as well, at least as much as gold 'circulated', which wasn't much.

 

 

[coinsandmedals]

I think this honor would go to my William and Mary pattern Halfpenny (Peck-594). Peck designates this coin with BM+, which indicates that, beyond the example in the British Museum, he has examined at least three additional specimens. To this extent, we know that at least four exist. Other than the example I own, I can only find a listing for two others. It looks as though Colin Cooke had one on their website at one point. Here is their excerpt:  

"William and Mary. Trial Halfpenny in ENGLISH COPPER. Long hair. Weight 8.28g. BMC 594. (See note in Peck page 160.) Reverse upright (highly unusual). Peck writes: "Most probably an official piece to determine the striking qualities of English copper, in preparation for the copper issue authorised by the House of Commons on 17th April 1694." Fine or a little better. Extremely Rare.

Ex Glendinings 10-2-1982 (photo).

Ex Spink Coin Auction 95, 25-11-1992, Lot 243 (£123). Seaby once had a specimen but with severe damage to the flan. No other specimen has appeared on the market in the last 22 years."

The coin that they provide an image of was also listed in a heritage auction some time ago, but I forget the exact date. So it seems as though 3 of these coins have been sold at some point (including the one I own). I do want to note that NGC has an MS-65 example in their census data. I have no idea how many were made, but given the "extremely rare" rating by Peck combined with the nearly non-existent auction records, it seems fair to speculate that not many were made, or at least not many survived. Here is a picture of my example graded by PCGS as PR-03.

Edited December 2, 2019 by coinsandmedals
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[leeg]

My 1939 Oregon Trail Half Dollar, 3,000 mintage:

 

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by leeg

[Matt_dac]

For modern/world, 1000 of this particular UNESCO World Heritage coin.  For old/US, 55,680 of the 1911-D Indian quarter eagle.

 

[Zebo]

Nice Indian

[Conder101]

Not a coin but a token, County of Warwickshire town of Coventry, D&H 312,  24 struck. Sorry no image.

[FloridaFacelifter]

1802 Proof Bust Dollar- 4 known