Opinions wanted on this three cent nickel

[RGT]

I bought this coin mail order way back in 1981. It's the only three cent nickel I've ever owned. It's just been sitting in the dark corners of my collection for years. I've occasionally considered selling it but just never got up the energy to try.

 

About a week ago I spotted another of this date on ebay so I had to check it out. The 1884 is a scarce date and they don't come up often so I watched this auction to get an idea of what my coin was worth. The ebay coin was listed as a VF but the image showed a gouge around 12:00 near the obverse rim. Overall my coin has a good bit more detail than the ebay coin. The final price ended up at $491 which was a surprise to me, even though I know there aren't many of these around. In my April NGC census I see only 16 graded in all grades.

 

Now my question is, if I decide to sell mine, should I try to get it graded first? Do you think it might get bodybagged? In the image you can see a couple of small dark spots on the obverse rim. These seem to be some sort of green/black buildup. The reverse has a few tiny flecks that also appear to be raised, not just toning. Is this enough to keep NGC from slabbing it?

 

I recall a few years ago buying a PCGS PR63 Liberty nickel off ebay that showed up with some green spots larger than these. The coin went back and the seller was quite upset that I didn't want his green nickel.

 

I would also like any opinions on the grade that you would care to offer. I think I got a bit too much light on the obverse but the detail shows up fairly well I think.

 

Thanks for your opinions.

[RGT]

And here's the reverse...

[Hoot]

Yours looks like a nice circ. piece. It does, however, appear to have some minor pitting on the surface, particularly the obverse, and the it also looks like it may have been cleaned. If you decide to have it slabbed, send it to ANACS. They do very well with grading circulated pieces and will also assign a net grade if there are problems with the piece. It's a "clean" way to sell a piece that others may question the integrity or authenticity of.

 

Hoot

[John Maben]

RGT,

 

You are assuming this is a business strike? It may not be. It appears to be either a once cleaned business strike, or a lightly circulated proof. In either case, buy the image, it has AU detail. The spots alone would probably not result in a no grade, but in combination with any cleaning it probably would.

 

John

[RGT]

Hoot,

 

Yes, I noticed some very fine granularity on the obverse that could be pitting. I really don't know much about these pieces and wasn't sure if this was normal for a circulated piece or not. It really doesn't look cleaned to me but I could be wrong. I'm pretty good at spotting a cleaning on copper or silver but I'm not so sure with nickel. I did give it a soak in acetone to make sure there was no PVC on it. If it was cleaned it was done prior to 1981 when I bought it.

 

ANACS may be a good choice. I've never sent anything to them though and the only coins I've had slabbed were submitted through a local dealer.

 

John,

 

I've always considered it a business strike even though the proofs are more common. I wasn't sure the obverse detail even made EF though that could be due to strike. Wouldn't a proof have a much better strike that this? The reverse does look pretty sharp though.

 

The cleaned look may be due to my putting the light directly on the coin trying to get the most detail to show along with my cheap camera and poor color balance. I think I'll take it to the local dealer to get a sight seen opinion.

 

Thanks for both your replies.

[James_OldeTowne]

RGT, my want list for that coin is about a mile long. In my opinion, certification has pretty much zero effect on coins like this, because the serious collectors pursuing such coins know what they're doing and trust their own grading judgement. I think the only question that a slab would answer would be authenticity, though I have almost never seen counterfeits of three-cent nickels.

 

If it's for sale, I'm interested (even though this is not the marketplace forum).

 

James

[RGT]

That makes sense James. But I figured if I was to try to sell it on ebay then it would be best to have it slabbed. My post was for information about the coin and not an offer for sale which is why I put it here. I sent you a PM in case you want to discuss this further.

 

The coin was described as an EF when I bought it. I marked on the holder my grade of VF-30/EF-45 years ago. I thought it was odd that the obverse was so much more worn than the reverse, but I didn't know much about how weak strikes plague this series (and most nickel coins, it seems).

[TomB]

The coin may or may not have been cleaned and I would lean toward it having not been cleaned. The reason I write this is because the type of lighting used can make many circulated coins appear cleaned, even if they have not been. This is just based upon my presumption of how the lighting has effected the image.

[RGT]

I think Tom is probably right on this one (isn't he always? )

 

Here are a couple more pictures with indirect lighting. I posted the other because I thought they showed the detail better, but these aren't too bad. The color is probably better on these too.

[RGT]

And, once again, the reverse...

[Hoot]

Hey, isn't that a different coin!?

 

Much better. I still like ANACS for circulated coins.

 

Hoot

[michael]

from the reverse of the coin looks to be a circulated proof striking to me

 

as far as the other merits of the coin

 

would need to see the coin

in person sight seen in hand

 

to give my further opinion of this neat unusual coin

 

 

michael

[RGT]

Hey, isn't that a different coin!?

 

Much better. I still like ANACS for circulated coins.

 

Hoot

 

You caught me. Yep, I have a roll of these. I just wanted to see if anyone would catch on.