MS-6x Jeff Nickels

[JKK]

I've been grading these today. Two whole rolls of 1967s, all uncirculated, and I'm not really very experienced with Jeffs. Most people probably wouldn't have holdered them, but I did. I actually wore out a stapler.

 

Looking at the PCGS price guide, I understand that SMS is Special Mint Set, and the short answer is that these ain't those. What I do not understand is why the non-SMS coins are priced higher. How can that be? Wouldn't SMS coins be more desirable, grades being equal? The Cameo and Deep Cameos price higher than the regular MS grades, but the plain SMSs price lower. I don't know what to make of that. $140 for an MS-65 1967 Jeff? That seems bizarrely high to me.

 

Anyway, I used my usual methodology when I have a *spoon*load of coins to grade. They're all 60s or better. I strapped on the magnifying headset and went to work. Anything that had two major contact marks (or two clusters of minor ones, or one of each), I reckoned couldn't higher. If none of the Monticello steps were visible, I said screw it, it can't go higher because it's either not a very good strike or it just rubbed too much along the way.

 

Of eighty coins, that left me with twenty candidates for higher grade. For 63, I reckoned no more than one readily visible contact mark or cluster. For 65, that fault had to be all but invisible without the magnifiers, and not jumping out at me even with them on. In both cases I expected increasing sharpness of strike, such as outlining in the arch and good detail in the steps with good background in the building.

 

Using this method, I got seven MS-65s and thirteen MS-63s. I realize mileage can vary, but I didn't find anything that I thought was pretty enough for MS-67--not even close. Consider that these coins have been in rolls so old they were disintegrating (one reason I felt it essential to get in and put them in better storage). To me, that means one expects a fair number of contact marks and rubs. So the question here is, does it sound like I may have overgraded based on the typical spectrum of coins you'd anticipate in such a case?

[Bruceswar]

MS 65 is harder than you think to get in a holder. The MS coins are much harder to find than the SMS coins, which is why there prices are higher.

[JKK]

Ah. So my first impression from the price guide is correct: the huge price should tip me off that there is some grading factor or standard that very few of these coins would meet if sent in. Maybe I can learn what it is.

[bsshog40]

Also, I think there was more concentration on the quality of the SMS jeffs than the business strikes. Supposedly the regular strikes were'nt of very good quality so anything over MS65 is rare.

[JKK]

Well, I'd concur there because most of the strikes are lousy. Rarely can you see the inner hairlines of the arch very clearly, and on half of them you can't see a single step.

[Oldtrader3]

The SMS Jeffs weren't great quality either, that is why MS67FS, SMS coins are such low pops. and worth a premium. However, business strikes were even worse quality and had fewer FS coins.

[cladking]

An extremely nice roll might grade out as you suggest. About half the rolls won't even have anything as nice as MS-63 for this date but the top 1 or 2% of rolls would. This date does come nicer than the '65 and '66 but if your grades are accurate it's still the exception.

[bsshog40]

Some people did not agree with this grade but, none-the-less, this is an exceptionally high grade for business strikes.

[WoodenJefferson]

I held off writing this in hopes that it would be included, but alas it has not, so this is from memory.

 

I read somewhere where the better dies were selected for the SMS, given a quick polish and used for about 20,000 coins each. Along with intermittant inspections, the dies were used until no longer fit for the production of SMS coins. The used dies still went directly on to strike the business end of the coins, degrading through out the whole process. It would only have taken about 90-100 or so sets of dies to strike the 1.8 million nickels included in the Special Mint Sets.

 

Wadda ya think? Plauseable?

[JKK]

An extremely nice roll might grade out as you suggest. About half the rolls won't even have anything as nice as MS-63 for this date but the top 1 or 2% of rolls would. This date does come nicer than the '65 and '66 but if your grades are accurate it's still the exception.

Okay, thanks. I'll tighten up my standards. I definitely don't have any as pretty as that 67 that was posted, but then again I didn't believe I did.

[bsshog40]

that's interesting WJ, I never heard of that. That would explain the reasoning behind the poor business strikes.

[JKK]

Okay, I went back and reassessed the supposed 65s in light of having looked at a lot of other Jeffs. Of seven, I graded four 63 and three 60.

 

Now a slightly congruent question: what would it take to get a 65 or better from you? My read of the standards is that you'd need an obviously MS coin with exceptional luster and perhaps one significant mark or a couple of insignificant marks, both requiring magnification to see. You'd expect to see a very good strike, with at least some steps and great detail in the triangle with the halfmoon thing, as well as very clear doors beneath it and out to the side. I find that the detail to the side actually takes a lot of abuse, as much as the middle. Such a coin would be a marvelous sight to see, but that should be true of MS-65 anywhere you look.

 

Viewpoints?