ProfHaroldHill

About as close to Unc as you can get without being there. These are the sellers pix, I haven't had a chance to get anything better yet.

Not my most recent, but it's been quite awhile since I posted regularly here, so I'm way behind on adding posts of my new(er) coins. I looked for a 'gemmy' 1866 Rays 5 Cent piece for a long time, not being able to afford a full gem, MS65. I was happy to find this one!

Thanks Mike! I think it's probably under-graded and it definitely has cameo contrast, (back then IIRC they didn't designate cameo on 3c Nickels.) But I love those old holders with the gold 'embossing' and no hologram. Reminds me of the days when I first started sending coins in for grading, so I'd be hard-pressed to send it in for an upgrade!

Thanks for the heads up, Conder101! They sure do exist... in numbers! At the Denver Mint in 1970, it seems an entire coil of dime thickness stock was cut to quarter sized blanks by mistake and the error wasn't noticed(?) The struck pieces, after successfully making it through the coinage process, were released into circulation. The source I read estimated over 100,000 of them were released. @Hinkle, thanks for the new/better pics. I'm rarely able to go online these days, big workload outside now until late June, or I would have replied sooner after your new pics went up. After reading up on these errors after Conder's post, and seeing your new and much better pics, I think you were wise to send the coin in. It may well be a damaged error coin, struck on a dime-thickness planchet as you estimate. I'll be looking forward to hearing about what ANACS has to say.

Well you're certainly right about the details. If this was actually manufactured as proposed/hoped by the OP, then it's an error coin that was given an acid bath and a scrub, judging from those surfaces!

I'd be curious to see the edge in clear focus, and to see the coin stacked on a normal quarter, for diameter comparison. A lot of copper can be dissolved away where the copper layer is exposed directly.

Didn't catch that part. The blanks proposed would not likely have survived the trip to the coinage dies. The upsetting mill comes to mind first and foremost. The blanks would probably be seriously deformed, if they didn't jam in the mechanism on the way through. I'm wondering if it's even possible to set up the blanking equipment that way without it being very obvious what was wrong, well before they would actually begin the blanking process.

It was soaked in a corrosive and then wiped/scraped, removing a significant amount of metal. Otherwise it's a normal US quarter dollar coin. A quarter struck on a dime planchet could never have full rims all the way around. There's not enough metal in a dime blank to expand that far and be forced up into a rim, all the way around the edge of the coin. The pictured 1976 quarter had full normal rims before it was altered. Definitely not one to send in for authentication(!)

As of early morning Tuesday, according to USPS tracking info, *all* of the prizes and consolation prizes have now been delivered! A final 'Congratulations' to the winners, (everyone!) ...and Thanks once again for taking part. It was a lot of fun in spite of the unexpected additional packing after we decided to go along with my grandsons wish and have "everybody win". The grandest prize won was mine of course, that being my getting to see my grandsons having so much fun, and watching as the contest turned into something even nicer than expected. I've been extra busy here of late, so I still have to catch up on reading/replying to my messages, but at this point I'm going to declare the 'Great 2020-2021 giveaway' to be an unqualified success(!)

The sorting and packing process is just about complete. The consolation prizes will go out either late today or tomorrow! I'll send messages out to everyone who has a prize headed their way once they've shipped.

Also have a Type One, 13P Gem Buffalo Nickel in a rattler, very decent gem coin. A newer slab 1883 No Cents Liberty Nickel graded MS 66 by PCGS. Pics soon.