Stupid question, I know, I know!

[jesbroken]

OK, here's my stupid question of the week! As the 1883 Liberty Nickel without cents has a mintage of only 5M+ and the 1883 with cents is over 16M. Why the great difference in value(the with cents is worth so much more than the w/o cents

nickel? To add to this is the fact that quite a few of the w/o cents were gilded and passed as gold and confiscated by the govt. thus reducing the mintage even more. I'm sure there is an explanation that will force a DUH! out of me, but I would still like to hear it. Thanks in advance, Jim.

[jman425]

I have both coins too and wondered the same thing.

Possible answers: People held on to the "no cents" variety since it was unique and most of the one with "cents" were circulated. Fast forward 125 years and there are more of the "no cents" in AU/Unc than the other.

[PerryHall]

New issues are frequently saved in large numbers by the public due to the novelty of a new design. Also, the design was changed mid-year so many thought the original design might become rare or even recalled so many were saved.

[James_OldeTowne]

New coins are usually saved by the public. The N/C came out first, so they were saved heavily. By the time the W/C came out, everyone already had saved their "new 1883 nickel", so there was little hoarding going on.

 

Same thing happened with the 1909 Lincolns. The VDB has the lower mintage, but they are far more common in high grade because they were saved, having come out before the non-VDB coins.

[jtryka]

The 1883 nickel with no cents had an added twist in that because of the racketeer nickels, there were rampant rumors that they were all going to be recalled so that they were saved even more, and of course when that rumor turned out to be false, a lot of no cents nickels were left, many in high grades.

[cpm9ball]

Anybody with no cents deserves what they get.

 

Chris

[TomB]

You've already received a few valid responses regarding the difference in how these issues were saved, but I will add that the government did not confiscate a significant number of the N/C coins so there was no change in their population based upon that story.

[jesbroken]

Huh, I thought their was a real reason. Buncha filthy hoarders. James, but the 1909 VDB in higher grades are still higher in value as they should be by mintage numbers and in lower grades about the same. Hoarders stink, yea, they are the reason there are so many unc. coins available, but they still stink. Hoarders got all the coins.

[BillJones]

You've already received a few valid responses regarding the difference in how these issues were saved, but I will add that the government did not confiscate a significant number of the N/C coins so there was no change in their population based upon that story.

 

Yes, that rumor increased the number of pieces that were taken from circulation and hoarded. That resulted in a larger than normal of survivors and higher grade coins.

 

Interestingly the British had a similar situation with their "withdrawn type" of 3 pence. The coin was the same size as the half sovereign, which prompted crooks to gold plate the coins and pass them for the gold piece. Like the “no cents” nickel, those coins were extensively hoarded, and high grade examples are common.

[DWLange]

During the first 40 years of so of the 20th Century, many dealers specifically stated that they did not buy No Cents nickels and 1853 Arrows coins, because these were too common to have collector value.

 

Minor correction to Bill Jones' remarks: the coin confused with the gold half sovereign and quickly discontinued was the silver 6 pence, first Jubilee type of 1887.

[Conder101]

The farthings of that period were also confused with half soveriegns. For that reason the British mint issued them with a deliberately blackened finish.