Proof nickels in the early 1960s are more often found toned than untoned. They tended toward blue, but there are lots of other colors too. Black beauties are a different creature altogether. These tended to be business strike coins in the late 1950s; typically 1958 with some in 1959. This was caused because of the composition of the alloy during those years.
Here is one I bought awhile back that I am totally happy with. A blue toned nickel, cost me around $5.95 what gives, am I missing something? Proof or spoof?
Really, I never would have thought colors like this would be natural on a nickel. What is the box you have them stored in made out of...and is that the source of the toning?
Fret: That's not a proof. It has a date of 1966, and no proof nickels were struck that year. I belive it may be a "prooflike" coin. The mint struck "special mint sets" that year, and your coin may be one of those. $6 sounds like a bit much, unless you have an exceptionally nice piece, which is difficult to tell from the picture. Camaro: I doubt that the toning has anything to do with the box. I have long believed that the toning in the early 1960s was due to the composition of the plastic sleeve in which the coins came, but it could also be due to the alloy.
They are not in a box, I used that as a figure of speech to describe quantity only - meaning a lot of them. To be precise I bought 120 of them as a single lot, every single one of them toned the various colors of the rainbow. I have been giving them away every so often for years. I've even given some to members here in contests.
Try this thread; http://www.cointalk.com/t46086/. The pictures are here; http://www.cointalk.com/t46086/#post513685
idhair sounds like you been around coins as long as I,with the black beauty term.do rember what a 56 shadow was?? I think NT with a little help from a photo editor?
I have the following limited experience with blue nickels but blue certainly can be NT. (1) I personally had a 1970 nickel turn blue inside the mint cellophane packaging. It did this over time in my possession. Proof nickels can apparently turn to a bright electric blue. (2) One time, a guy at Dart Coin told me that he had invested in the blue nickels in his case but they were not selling very well now (like he had been stuck with them for quite awhile). (3) In a grading class, I body bagged a neon blue proof V-nickel because I thought it was AT. I was quickly corrected by a guy that claimed to have found several examples of blue proof V-nickels in some old time collections which he had appraised. (4) Breen references a hoard of 1912-S nickels which had a blue tint to them. Very best regards, collect89