GTG: Buffalo Nickel

Mintage: 11,860,000

NGC Pop. All grades: 1,096
NGC details grades: 175
PCGS Pop. All grades: 1,779


I sent a few off to NGC today and this is one of them. It'll be a couple months before we have an answer. In the mean time I'd be curious to know what the forum grades this. I sent it in on a whim just out of curiosity. It has some very attractive rose toning that does not show up in the picture. It doesn't have the blazing luster like so many 37s and 38s do, but I've seen examples like this grade mid MS without the luster. I think it's a really attractive coin for a 16-S. Many of this year were not struck well but this one looks great. I'm also surprised by how few have been graded out of a nearly 12 million mintage. I've had it in an intercept album of mine for the past four years.

 

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I'll say AU58 but MS wouldn't surprise me one bit nice buff.

 

Your assessment of this piece seems fair. I like the looks of it. I can see the attractive toning you speak of more so on the reverse, and then the common streaky toning on the obverse. I’d go as high as MS63 on this example. Nice coin !

 

I'm at MS-60 .

 

Going with AU details...shouldn't be that way but have a hunch. Hope I'm wrong. A 58 otherwise.

 

I could see a details cleaned (photo makes me think potentially cleaned) but I went more positive and said MS 62 (low MS due to lack of strong luster).

 

Nice horn, split tail, smooth fields, clean rims, luster...it looks nice! I can't see any rubs, but I would like to see better picture of the surfaces. The lighting makes it look a little dull. Based on these pics, I gotta go high...MS65.

 

I went high also, that is only because the images are to small.
MS65. First look only

 

64

 

64

 

I have a four bulb set up but I had to shut a couple off. Too much light and it gets washed out and its also difficult to see. I found I could see it better this way than using all four. I looked at it under a 20x magnifier and could not see any scratch marks or hair lines from cleaning. Surfaces have a light blue tone to them in the right light. The rose colored toning shows up under the buffalo on the reverse but I couldn't capture it on the camera.

 

The details in the strike of the devices is strong and superior to most I've seen, just look at every part of that buffalo jump out as if minted yesterday! I give it at least an MS65 if not better.

 

The picture seems to show the coin has a satin finish look. Based on the picture I would say cleaned high AU. The reverse has an unnatural look. If the coin has a more natural look then I go with AU 58 to MS 64.

 

Hope the turn around is fast and we can see the results soon.

 

Ha! Don't count on it. I will post the results as soon as they post them on the submission status page. It'll take a few days to get there and NGC is now opening mail they received 3 weeks ago just to get them entered in the system to begin the process. I did select Early bird standard which is more costly but that's 38 business days once received for turn around times.

 

From “The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels - Second Edition” by David W. Lange on the 1916-S:

“Well struck examples are likely to be frosty or satiny, while the softer ones may have a very bright and metallic surface.”

I suspect that this one could be a model example for that sentence.

 

TPG's can often be tough on IH/Buffalo. I'm going with a spread AU55 - MS62. Will certainly enjoy the answer, Good luck.

 

The buffalo's shoulder and cape seem to have wear. I say AU55. Very nice no matter what it comes back as.

 

I like the look of the coin and would call it AU58.