Is this an 1883/2 shield nickel variety. Here is a link to Howards website https://www.shieldnickels.net/1883_2/fs013_1.html. I think it is. Can't wait to get it to get closeup of the date and crack.
No doubt in my mind you've scored yourself a home run there. @SensibleSal66's enlargement of the date shows the die crack running through the 3, and the underlying 2. The full obverse pic also shows and confirms the die crack running from the 'D to the W' in IGWT. Additionally, it shows the die crack from the top of the left wreath to the cross. All the markers are present IMO. Care to share who and what the grade is?
PCGS AU-55 - won on heritage last night in the Tuesday/Wednesday auction. Once I get the coin I will use my scope to see what additional closeups of the date I can get. First unattributed one I have seen on heritage in while. Usually any variety I recognize on heritage gets bid up. I usually end up getting out bid and sometimes I think they go for more than if they were attributed.
Shield nickels are fun. It was the US mints first foray into using nickel and they suffered some die breaks during the learning process.
The Philadelphia Mint employees hated working with nickel. They nicknamed it "The devil's copper." It had higher melting point than the other coinage metals, and it was hard and tough on dies. You see many die breaks and other manufacturing problems on Shield Nickels and the Nickel Three Cent Pieces. The workers thought they had caught a break when the mint switched the cent from the copper-nickel to bronze cents. The Joseph Warton, who owned a nickel producing operation, and who had a lot of clout in Congress, got the bills passed for the Three Cent Nickel and the Nickel five cent piece.
"The devil's copper" significantly predates the US mint... German miners in the early 1700's nicknamed it "kupfernickel" because Old Nick (a personification of the devil) and his gnomes were bewitching the mines and the ore.
