1883 Cents vs No Cents Lib Nickel

[MBA101]

I have wondered this since I was a little crumb cruncher. Why is the No Cents nickel worth only a fraction of the value of a With Cents nickle? The mintage of the No Cents is a full third of the With Cents, and it is also a unique type coin. I don't get it. Were the With Cents coins all used up or melted? Or is the No Cents coin just extremely unpopular with collectors?

 

Any thoughts on my post # 100?

[kryptonitecomics]

The no cents were minted first and their wasn't a lot of hoopla around their release. Once folks started gold plating them the mint added the word Cents to the reverse. Once word got out to the public that the mint made a chance to the design folks started hoarding the coins becuase they believe they would be truly rare with fewer minted....which did not end up being the case.

 

So really the answer to your question is publicity.

[MarkFeld]

The no cents were minted first and their wasn't a lot of hoopla around their release. Once folks started gold plating them the mint added the word Cents to the reverse. Once word got out to the public that the mint made a chance to the design folks started hoarding the coins becuase they believe they would be truly rare with fewer minted....which did not end up being the case.

 

So really the answer to your question is publicity.

I would add that the publicity caused people to save the coins to the extent that they are far more readily available than the With Cents pieces. So, it's largely about about supply.

 

The NGC Census Report shows that 641 1883 With Cents examples have been certified in all grades combined, compared to 5002 of the 1883 No Cents nickels.

[James_OldeTowne]

Whenever a new coin is issued, it's human nature to keep one (or more) for posterity. Such was the case with the coin. The first ones out the mint - which were the "no-cents" - were saved in large quantities. Thus, though the earlier variety has the lower mintage, it has the higher survival rate.

 

You'll find a virtually identical situation with 1909 cents. The 1909-VDB was the first issued and saved in huge quantities. Without the VDB, it's a much tougher coin. And again, the same thing with the 1917 SLQs.

[Conder101]

Whenever a coin or piece of currency is issued and for some reason a change is made in the design shortly ifter it is issued there is this thing I call "The Rumor!". Basicly the rumor goes that they "made a mistake, and they are all going to be recalled" and that they will be very valuable in the future so hold onto every one you can get your hands on.

 

Well when the stories went around about the gold plating of the nickels and that the design was being changed "The Rumor!" started. And even though they made three times as many with cent nickels as no cent ones, the people snatched up and hoarded the no cent coins while the circulated and wore out the with cent coins. So today it is MUCH easier to find a no cent coin, and when you do they are almost always in higher grade than the with cent coins.

 

A couple of other examples of items that were affected by "The Rumor!", 1913-D and S Type II nickels. The mintages of these were not that much lower than the Type I coins. But the people hoarded the original design and today they are worth a fraction of what the type II coins bring.

 

It works on currency as well. In December 1968 Joseph Barr became Secretary of the Treasury and his signature was put on the dollar bill. But the *spoon* had lost the Presidential election and people knew that when Nixon came into office just 30 days later he would appoint a new Secretary. So "The Rumor!" said to hoard all the notes you could find with Barr's signature because they would be rare since he would only serve for 30 days and then the signature would change. The problem with this is that the BEP doesn't stop using a printing plate because someone new comes into office. They use it until it is worn out. So the Barr notes were printed for thirteen months. There are still people out there sitting on hoards of hundreds or thousands of dollars face value in these things that they have been holding for almost 40 years. and what are they worth? Just a hair over face value. If they had put the money into CD's even at 4% they would be worth over four times as much as they are now.

 

I think it may happen again in the future with 1996 series twenty dollar bills. When they came out in 1998 with the 1996 series date I heard many a bank teller telling people they should hang onto them because they were going to be recalled because they had the wrong date on them. It may not happen though since there was not new issue, and hoarding twenties in more than a lot of people can afford to do.

[Amanda]

Great information guys!

 

Interestingly enough, I have seen an 1884 'No Cents' nickel. It had a strike-through grease on the reverse that completely obliterated the word CENTS.

 

The No Cents in my type collection was one of my firsts, and I was very pleased that my oldest coin (at the time) was so affordable.

 

-Amanda

[James_OldeTowne]

Forgive me for indulging, but here's a link to my Liberty Nickel collection (I've posted it before).