Welcome to CT. Yes it is an error. Actually a quite common error. Worth 1 cent unless it were in a "junk" coin bowl at $1.00/5.
Hi Tasha. As Kaintuck says, that is an error. It is most often referred to as the " BIE " die chip error because it looks like the letters B I E. You obviously know this because you referred to it by name in your heading. As for value, to Kentucky, who probably has several of these and seen who knows how many, it's almost worthless, but to someone like myself, who does NOT have one, it could be/would be a little more valuable, like maybe a dollar or so on eBay. You know, I'd bid on it, because I don't have one.I've searched thousands of pennies and don't have one. Now, selling on eBay involves paying eBay's fees, which probably means that for such a low value error coin, it may not be worth the trouble. At any rate, since it is a real error, hang on to it in your Oddities Box and pull it out now and then with your friends for what we call Show and Tell. Thanks for posting such an un-BIE-lievable error !! lol Hey, and Welcome to Coin Talk !!
Thanks y'all!! I'm super excited. I've become almost obsessed with wheat pennies. Been collecting for around 4 months and I have around 40 wheaties and 10 or so S mints various years. All by buying 2-4$ in rolled change, about every day lol. Any special wheat pennies to keep an eye out for?
Me personally don't even bother. I don't see the point in trying to figure out the missing date. Especially when the Nickel is in that condition
Hi Tasha.... I have bags if no-date buffalo nickels that I give away to kids. I went through a spell a while back and thought it may be interesting to try to get some of these old worn out nickels dated. I used a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol and let them sit overnight. The process did raise a date on about 50% of the nickels. The downside is that it turns them ghostly white. Figure they are still worth a nickel though!
The BIE error is nice but only worth a couple of dollars. The Buffalo is worn from circulation and they retail for fifty cents or less. Welcome to CT.
@Tasha Calverley, welcome to CT! Yeah, that Buff is too far gone, even if you could ascertain the date ...but if you were ever going to make jewelry, or "hole" it for a neckless, etc., this would be a candidate.
I recently bought 10 rolls of undated buffalo nickels for 30 bucks, 75% proved to be early daters, even found a 1914 D, and other semi key dates, pretty fun for a almost face value purchase.
A Yeoman Red Book has all the pertinent data for all denominations. Low mintages is a key factor, this can be found in a Red Book, and "special" is a relative term. For instance, first year Lincolns come in multiple varieties with varying rarity/scarcity, some easier to acquire than others. Another thing to consider is that to get one, you will almost have to buy it, they are 110 years old this month, and the chances you are going to run across one from circulation are nil, but if you do, the condition will almost certainly be a very low one. Same thing for 1922 no mint mark. Research both of these dates to see what I mean. The Red Book is a great data source, just use the values listed very loosely. Use NGC or Numista for more accurate price and value listings. Hope this helps...Spark
