Time To Address My Shortcoming

I love when they have dates on them. Most don’t

 

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Aren’t tails important also

 

Also. On the 3 1/2 leg buffalo. Where’s the 1/2 leg

 

Well it depends on which half you are asking about. 1/2 is still on the coin the other 1/2 has been polished off the die so is "gone".

 

Interesting thread for me, as the obverse on these nickels always present a problem for me; the reverse not so much. Maybe I'll start a thread about grading Franklin halves: for me, those are devilish to grade.

Steve

 

The buffalo got caught in a bear trap and lost it to get away.

 

It appears that the buffalo nickel is not only difficult for the typical collector to grade, but also the so-called experts (TPG). My reference of choice when I revived my coin collecting hobby following marriage and starting a family was the “ANA Grading Standards“ 1977. In it there are fully 25 dates and mintmarks (about 1/3 of the total series) which are listed as commonly having weak strikes and have a lack of detail in even uncirculated grades. Essentially all of those before 1927 are keys, semi-keys or ‘tough dates’. That makes the choice of purchases of raw coins for the buyer difficult. Of course the VF required full horn, except supposedly those 25 cases.
Enter PCGS and other similar photo based grading references. Upon review of the PCGS Photograde site, only 2 of the buffaloes shown in circulated grades are in the list of 25 listed with commonly weak strikes. So one is generally not learning how to grade a tougher date circulated Buffalo from this site.
For the case of grades AU 58 to MS 63, all images are supposedly of usual normal strikes, but show weak detail or outright minor wear to my eyes. Of course, the MS 64 shows a weakly struck coin from the group of 25 list. The typical collector (myself included) would not care to pay MS 64 money for that weak strike coin, even slabbed.
BTW, I almost always wait for a slabbed buffalo with a strong strike or purchase raw buffaloes meeting the earlier ANA standards.
Dan

 

The ability to tell the difference between MS and BS will save all collectors a lot of money and buyer's remorse

 

Never saw one. Don’t know what to look for

 

It is the front right leg of the buffalo (really a bison as we don't have buffalo in North America but let's not get started on THAT).

 

That bison amputee is only on the 1937D nickel and is quite rare (you won't find one coin roll hunting ) - a nice one (AU grade) will cost you over $1000, VF goes for about half that much - (see the pic below)

 

Your the best

 

I remember having a 1924-S a guy bought as a VF, but it didn't have a full horn. I told him it was at least XF by the surfaces, but he wasn't happy with it. I gave him VF Grey Sheet bid for it in trade. Came back from PCGS as AU50. He just shrugged.
And Indian head cents don't have to have 4 diamonds to be XF either.

 

I have raw 1924-S and 1925-S buffalo's with weak horns but all other features are sharp so I'll probably get around sending them in one of these days. While building my Dansco album I look for full horns on some dates but am not as picky on the rare full horn dates. All dates need sharp, full dates though. I still need the 1921-S and 1926-S but am waiting for my winning lottery ticket.