http://www.ebay.com/itm/110763275419?ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT 25grizzlies looks like your 1995 Chinese Panda 5 yuan "small date" free prize is gaining in popularity/value ! This one in the link was posted as the "wow of the day" at CCF as it sold for $433. I have been watching this particular auction as there has been and there are no other 1995 S5Y "small dates" anywhere that I have seen recently. I checked population reports and the NGC graded one as you have is much more rare than the PCGS version ! Another issue is PCGS does not even distinguish large/small for this coin and the difference in appearance is very significant so who knows how many of the PCGS coins are "small dates" by the rarity of what I and many others have seen, I would think very few of these were small dates. NGC does not even have one 70 for this coin, PCGS has 11 ! POPULATION REPORTS: PCGS 104 - Total Graded 11 MS70's 76 MS69's 11 MS68's So that means that 94% of PCGS graded MS68 or higher. NGC 62 - Total Graded 0 MS70's 20 MS69's 24 MS68's So that means that only 71% of NGC graded MS68 or higher. I talked to two other very large dealers that I do business with frequently and they said the same thing, this coin is EXTREMELY hard to find and even offered me some fairly serious $$$ for the graded coins that I own. One of the guys at CCF posted he bought a sheet of 10 raw coins for $1,800 !!! I paid $50 each for the raw coins that I bought back in January. What does all of this mean ???? It means that if I were you I would hold onto that coin bro !!! I'm glad that the prize for that comp is a very worthy one for you, of course I gave it away because I have a substantial nest of these graded and raw so it didn't hurt to unload one and send it to a friend across the world Enjoy my man !!!
Absolutely amazing isn't it?! This little coin really does have a fire under it. Saw another one a week or so ago with a day to run was at $350. Didnt catch the final price as I was in Sydney at the stackers meet. I gave a short presentation of some of my coins, your 95 was a highlight and I gave mention to your kind generosity. I bought my 95 sml date when I first started collecting, only 1 unfortunately, for $40... so in 6 months it has potentially an incredible @500% return. Chinese modern coins are the ONLY recent market of anything where this type of return is possible. It just shows what happens when the door closes on a coin. They're gone, or going, to the moon! Interesting to note the grading companies discrepancies also. The coin you sent is flawless to the eye, 69s and 70s must be very hard to attain. I think we have Badon to thank for his continual input at NCG in keeping the knowledge of modern Chinese coins currnet there. Another reason to grade with them when I eventually do, hopefully around Feb/Mar of 2012. Gives me great pleasure to have a couple of these now, you're a legend!
A legend in my own mind is what wifey says She also says try not to let my mind wander it's too small to be outside alone
Wonder what happened to these little bruins? IMO For reasons never to know, the Mint just didn't produce the published numbers. I'm open to any other reasons as to why we can't find them. Hoarders? Dealers? Being melted down is a hard one to swallow. Gold Pandas?, yes. Silver?, doubtful. Any others? thanks folks... wyldkatt
Scarcity. This is the 1995 Micro date coin's little brother. There is a big chance that it may be as scarce as that coin.
You may be right 25grizzlies ... on any given day you can find a few of the 1995 S10Y "micro" selling on ebay. How often do you see the 1995 S5Y "small date" ? ... rarely ever to never, that's how often If you look at Peter's book, they were not listed as a variety as they had not even been discovered until after the book. I would not be inclined to say that their rarity it is due to hoarding, I believe there were probably VERY few minted and it has been also substantiated by Peter that YES even silver coins that did not sell very well after being minted were melted down. It has also been substantiated that dealers could return unsold coins and they were melted down as well. The small hoard that I have of these coins would have no impact although the coins I own will not be sold for another 20 years so that will assist in keeping them a rare item I think you will be surprised at what you can sell that coin for in two years.
Great assessment RC The 90's were so unkind to metals that some of these coins could even have been put into electronics. Hard to think that now but in those days it was a real possibility. I mean silver was practically worthless at $4 per oz, what else but industrial use? Also I like your collecting mentality, we the public hold direction in a lot of ways over where the market heads. By holding onto coins such as these it keeps them rare.
