Three Cent Nickels 2 2

[Sandon]

   Here is a new acquisition, a proof 1882 "three cent nickel" (3,100 reported issued) that PCGS graded PR 66. I purchased this coin from a June 2024 auction, not for any particular collecting goal but because I liked it, and the price was reasonable. The coin has very clean surfaces with only a few ticks, light mottled toning, and a full strike. The mirrors aren't deep, but the coin is almost certainly a proof strike. (A circulation strike in this grade would be worth substantially more.) Despite the low mintage and being a proof strike, the coin has a thin reverse die crack running through the leaves between nine and ten o'clock

 

Photos courtesy of Stacks Bowers Galleries.

[GoldFinger1969]

Yeah, interesting denomination.....I didn't know we made anything like this until a few years ago....I originally thought this was created specifically to buy 3cent stamps but it was another 3 cent coin.

Edited July 9 by GoldFinger1969

[Sandon]

@GoldFinger1969--Per Breen's Encyclopedia, which may or may not be entirely accurate, copper nickel three cent pieces were originally authorized in 1865 primarily to replace three cent fractional currency notes, and most of the pieces minted from 1865 through 1876 were used for this purpose. Breen indicated that they were also used to purchase postage stamps as had been their predecessors, the silver three cent pieces first issued in 1851.

Edited July 9 by Sandon
correct wording

[Henri Charriere]

A QUESTION FOR LEADERBOARD HABITUE AND VETERAN SEASONED MEMBER VKURTB:

CONSIDERING THE IRREPROACHABLE VIRTUE EXHIBITED BY THIS COIN -- PRISTINE STATE OF SURFACE PRESERVATION -- AND SETTING ASIDE FOR A MOMENT WHETHER THIS TYPE FALLS WITHIN YOUR AREA OF INTEREST AND POSSIBLE EXPERTISE, WOULD YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE ACQUIRING THIS COIN SOLELY ON THE VISUAL EVIDENCE PRESENTED, "SIGHT-UNSEEN," AS THAT TERM IS USED TO MEAN "WITHOUT A WRITTEN RETURN POLICY AFTER A SPECIFIED PERIOD OF PERSONAL, IN-HAND, INSPECTION?

(I THANK THE OP FOR HIS INDULGENCE IN ALLOWING THIS CROSS-EXAMINATION.)

Posted at the discretion of Moderation.

Edited July 9 by Henri Charriere
Addition of descriptor.

[J P M]

On 7/8/2024 at 6:25 PM, Sandon said:

   Here is a new acquisition, a proof 1882 "three cent nickel" (3,100 reported issued) that PCGS graded PR 66. I purchased this coin from a June 2024 auction, not for any particular collecting goal but because I liked it, and the price was reasonable. The coin has very clean surfaces with only a few ticks, light mottled toning, and a full strike. The mirrors aren't deep, but the coin is almost certainly a proof strike. (A circulation strike in this grade would be worth substantially more.) Despite the low mintage and being a proof strike, the coin has a thin reverse die crack running through the leaves between nine and ten o'clock

 

Photos courtesy of Stacks Bowers Galleries.

Very nice coin, Does it also have a die crack below the bust?

[Sandon]

On 7/9/2024 at 6:41 PM, J P M said:

Does it also have a die crack below the bust?

   No. I think that what you are interpreting as a crack is the lower, shallow part of the bust truncation.

[Henri Charriere]

🐓: Sandon's regrettably credible explanation, notwithstanding, I move the congregation dub this to be a coin "contrail" directly below, parralel and horizontal to the bust's Line of Truncation.  As a practical matter, you do know what this means, don't you?

Q.A.:  Yes.  Any hope the venerable VKurtB would contemplate acquiring a coin "sight-unseen," within our lifetimes, has been effectively dashed to smithereens.