Hey... I found a '38 Jefferson nickel amongst my pocket change several weeks ago. The coin seems to be in remarkably good condition, except for the steps. I did some homework on the coin and read that due to poor die design, the steps were notoriously prone to wear. My question is whether this unusual tendancy for step wearing is taken into concideration when rating a '38 Jeff, or if the same importance is applied inre the existance or absence of steps as other mintings? By the way, this is also a dbl die nickel with dbling evident on all obverse devices-notably the profile and date. See the attached photo's. Thanks boj
I agree with you.You don't find 1938 nickles in that good condition.Also I don't see a DDO on that coin.Sorry for the bad news.Still,you should keep it. B12
Die design is taken in to effect with the FS rating, and you'll see that a FS rating adds much more of a premium to older Jeffersons than more modern ones. That's a great find, btw... oldest Jefferson I ever found in circulation was a 1939, in almost but not quite the condition as this picture, though I did find a 1937 buffalo nickel once.
The 1938 design has very weak, wavy steps to begin with. Yours looks average for 38. On the DDO there are a couple different for the obverse in 38 but I can not see any doubling in your photos, I'm saying there isn't any but I can't see it.
Hi, On 1938 DDO nickels, even in a pic of this size, you would see the thickening of letters and numerals that is NOT present here. A nice find of a nice 1938 Jeff, but mechanical doubling is present on the profile. Thanks, Bill
I think for the most part that step wear is taken into consideration in grading of pre-1983 nickels, only in terms of the general strike of the coin, not necessarily the count of the steps. I've attached the PCGS population report for 1938-P nickels which shows graphically that you can have a high quality beautiful coin in MS67 grade (17 times) without full steps, while only 3 times with full steps, and so on.. down the grading scale.
FS designation on a 38 would make the coin more valuable. However it would not be so noted if the coin is AU. This coin is not DDO. It is machine (strike) doubling on the face of Jefferson. Nice coin, and very neat find in pocket change!!!...Mike
Yeah, I was just going to say that, and i can never see any doubling. The forhead looks obviously double died to me. Ruben
Thanks to everyone for the info. As far as the doubling issue, several of you noted the doubling line on the forehead, which is fairly obvious to me. Fact is the doubling on the profile actually continues completely around the head. There's also doubling present throughout the date and the obverse lettering, although it isn't very clear due to the jerry-rigged photography set up I've used. Also, the doubling I've described is attributed to particular DDO on CONECO's website. Hence, I'm kind of confused by the "machine doubling" explanation for the forehead doubling. boj
