GTG-1883 Three Cent Nickel

I am going to force myself to do something that is as hard as scratching the paint on a new car to me.... I will be freeing this from its slab to fill a Dansco hole. Thought it may be fun to give it a GTG while the slab is still intact.... @C-B-D is exempt from this challenge....

 

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Wow. AU58

 

AU55

 

AU Details - Environmental Damage
(guess based on the cracking for an album part)

 

Pr-62

 

I would be at AU58 based upon photos. I also suspect @ddddd is correct, but unless old cleaning would not see what the TPG might to say details.

Pretty type coin.

 

MS-62. I think the glare from the holder makes some of the lines of the Roman numeral III look weaker than they really are. Nice coin. I used to own an 1878 (Proof Only)...don't ask me what happened to it...

 

I want to offer up one more set of photos. This is with natural sunlight. I am holding the coin in one hand and my phone in the other so it may not be perfectly in focus. But I think the natural sunlight paints a different picture.

 

Hm. Since you're taking it out of the slab to fill a hole I'm going to guess lower, so AU-55.

Whether that remains a fair assumption I guess I'll find out.

 

PR60 is my guess.

Cheaper option to fill that business strike hole in my opinion.

 

PF-60

 

Interesting point. The new photos sure do show very sharp edges that a proof would have, as well as "questions" concerning the fields. I do agree a very useful photo.

I still have to wonder if its the photo, my old eyes, or what why it appears to me to be weak in the central device. The edges of the tiara are crisp, but the hair looks "mushy". Is this hair weakness endemic to the issue? I admit I have never paid the series much notice.

 

Lady Liberty does not have a strong hair design on this series. However I do agree. On this particular strike I find her hair to be less detailed than what I would expect to see. I have several in lower tier grades that have a stronger detail to her hair.

 

Now that I see it out of the holder, I'm going to change my guess to Proof-62. I might as well tell you all now what happened to my 1878. It was originally my grandmother's. She gave that coin and an 1867 nickel 3-cent to me when I was a young teen and had been collecting for a short time. Where she got them, I don't know. She had no idea what either coin was worth. She was born in 1901 and didn't come to this country until the early 1920's. The 1878 would have probably graded Proof-50 to 55 today, it was lightly circulated. Well, in 1980, I sold the coin for $900 to buy an engagement ring and wedding band for a woman that I ended up not marrying. I'm still kicking myself for that decision (selling the coin, that is). The only saving grace (I guess) is that coin hasn't appreciated in value at all, in fact, it's dropped a bit in those 40 years, which I don't understand for a coin that had only 2,350 minted, except maybe the demand for them has dropped. I still have the 1867 which would grade probably F to VF.

 

The mintages between the MS and Proof strikes should be a dead give away.
A very hard series to complete in MS examples.

 

Well, I would ask when was the last time you met someone collecting this series by date, especially lower level specimens. 99.99% of Americans do not know they exist, and maybe 99% of those left want one for type.

Not an unworthwhile worthwhile endeavor, just putting into perspective. A mintage of 2,350, or even 235 examples, is only listed as a scarce coin by many other coin series. I have rulers or even entire civilizations with fewer coins known. No coin is scarce or rare unless demand is considered.

 

Proof 60-62

 

PF62

 

And the reveal...

 

Wow. Are you sure you want to break it out man?