1883 V Nickel

[BipolarBaby]

Hello, recently a buddy from work brought in coins he had handed down to him and I came across this 1883 V nickel he had. I am not familiar with V nickels, does anyone have any ideas on what this would grade as? Thank you for your time.

 

 

 

 

 

[MarkFeld]

I can't tell for certain if it is a well struck, semi-prooflike (or prooflike) business strike or a Proof. However I suspect the former.

 

If it is a business strike, it should grade AU55 at a minimum and possibly much higher. But without much clearer images, it's pretty much impossible to tell.

[BipolarBaby]

Yea this coin is struck very well. I will have to take better pictures of this coin and post them when i can. Thanks again Mark.

[AHFreak]

I am almost positive that coin is a proof, like I am 98% sure..

if it is a business strike though. .. wow.

[AHFreak]

Yeah that's a proof... grading proofs is much different than grading b.s. coins. In my opinion it's actually much more straight forward and easier. That said thought its next to impossible to grade a proof by looking at a picture because they will pretty much all look the same in a photo whether it's a pf63 or a pf68, u can't see what needs to be seen in pics. A proof's grade will come down to the hairlIne scratches on its surface. Hold it by the edges and roll it around under a good light, angling it so the light is bouncing off the surface in all different directions. How many scratches are there? Where are they and how extreme are they? That will determin the grade. If u can get that far, and want help to ballpark the grade, which would ballpark the value, I could probably get you there. PM me for more specifics if you would like.

 

It looks like a beautiful coin regardless though. Makes me want to know what else you got to see in this collection!

[physics-fan3.14]

There is absolutely no way that you can determine if it is a proof or business strike from those images. I will say that the odds are far more in favor of a $20 AU coin instead of a $200 proof coin.

 

The coin looks to be somewhat higher grade, as Mark mentioned, but we can't really give a better answer with those pictures. It is at least AU, but that's all I can say.

[Danye West]

To me it looks like a cameo proof.

[AHFreak]

There is absolutely no way that you can determine if it is a proof or business strike from those images. I will say that the odds are far more in favor of a $20 AU coin instead of a $200 proof coin.

 

The coin looks to be somewhat higher grade, as Mark mentioned, but we can't really give a better answer with those pictures. It is at least AU, but that's all I can say.

 

You might could say that there is no way YOU could tell its a proof by those pics.... but I can absolutely tell that its a proof just by those pics...

 

As far as a $200 1883 proof nickel, please tell me where those can be found... Im serious, I want them.

[mikew148]

I got a headache looking at those images

[physics-fan3.14]

You might could say that there is no way YOU could tell its a proof by those pics.... but I can absolutely tell that its a proof just by those pics...

 

As far as a $200 1883 proof nickel, please tell me where those can be found... Im serious, I want them.

 

Please educate me - how can you tell that is a proof? And with such positive confidence?

 

I'm not saying its not a proof, and I'm not saying it is a proof - I'm saying you can't tell from those pictures.

 

A quick search of the Heritage Archives shows many 83 No Cents proofs sold for around $200 (in the PR60-PR63 range).

[Walkerfan]

I would conservatively grade the coin 55-58. I cannot tell if it is a proof or not.

[BipolarBaby]

tried to take better pictures. Its hard to take good pictures in the shop.

 

 

[Mark T]

I am leaning towards Proof however even with the new pictures there is no way to determine this for sure.

[coinman_23885]

I am leaning towards Proof however even with the new pictures there is no way to determine this for sure.

 

+1

[physics-fan3.14]

Funny how AHfreak hasn't responded at all

[Danye West]

It looks less like a proof to me now. I think it looks polished.

[BillJones]

Here is an 1883 No Cents in Proof if that is of any help.

 

 

Oddly enough the 1883 No Cents nickel is probably the most common "V Nickel" in AU to MS-63 because people set many of them aside soon after they were issued. The mint added the word "CENTS" to the reverse after some of the No Cents coins were gold plated and passed as $5 gold pieces. The word got around that the No Cents would be collectors items because the production was limited to part of the year. The fact that they were saved in quantity resulted in just the opposite result.

 

The Proof 1883 No Cents nickel is a bit expensive because it is a one year type coin. The fact that it was only made for a part of the year did result in making that piece a harder to find that the average common date Liberty Nickel in Proof.