I have a nickel which was misstruck... it is completely overpressed... the face side is barely recognizable... you can make out his face, but all the words are totally flush and illegible... the edge is sheared at an angle, and the back end is perfectly fine, except for the fact that it looks, almost burned, around the edges... could anyone help me out with this?
Okay, I scanned it... you can't really see the burned edges on the back end, they appear as just slightly green-ish due to the intense light of the scanner... front side: back side:
I have a nickel which was misstruck... it is completely overpressed... the face side is barely recognizable... you can make out his face, but all the words are totally flush and illegible... the edge is sheared at an angle, and the back end is perfectly fine, except for the fact that it looks, almost burned, around the edges... could anyone help me out with this? P.S. You can't really see the darkened edges on the back side of the nickel due to the intense light of the scanner, they look somewhat dark green-ish from it Front side: Back Side:
Have you weighed the coin ? From looking at the pics and your description of darkened edges I would bet that it has been machined or sanded down intentionally. The darkened edges no doubt are the result of the heat generated by doing this.
It isn't the edges, but the area right next to the edges... It is hardly noticable, but it is the slightest bit off-centered, too... and, if it were machined or sanded off, wouldn't that leave a mark?
It probably did leave marks. But it may require magnification to see them. Or any marks that were left could have been worn smooth by circulation, but there should still be traces. As I suggested, weigh the coin and that will provide the answer.
it did leave a mark, the discolored part of the reverse and the angled edges of the obverse. I agree it looks like it has been intentionally abused, I just can't imagine any combination of things that the mint could have done to make a coin look like that. I bet you could eBay it for a few dollars, though you porbably won't be able to quit your day job from the income. good luck!
I've used a balance scale, and, compared to an ordinary nickel, it appears that they are equivalent in weight... due to the error made, what would the price of a nickel such as this be?
Hold on a sec... It's not burned, it's simply indented heavily which gives it a distinct darkened appearance... I wouldn't think this was a fake... if it was, wouldn't it have been taken out of circulation?
I believe it to be damaged, but I don't have the coin in hand. One option is to take it to a coin dealer to have it inspected. Then depending on what he says (and if you believe him) then you could send it to one of the major grading services for verification and grading. If they agree with you that it is a mint error then it will be easy to sell in the marketplace, once it is encapsulated. If they disagree with you then you are out the $20 you spent to get the coin graded. As for your question about the coin being taken out of circulation, the answer is that most people don't pay attention to their change and the odds are that it's been in and out of circulation it's whole life.
I just need a rough estimate of what this coin would most likely be worth if it is not counterfeit and is, in-fact, a mint error...
That's the problem, there is no way to know. I am far from an expert on errors, but I have done a good bit of reading about them and I have never even heard of a mint error that in any way, shape or form even resembles this coin. Therefore I do not think it is an error coin, but instead a damaged coin. But it certainly wouldn't be the first time that I was wrong about an error coin. So if you think it is indeed genuine, then follow the suggestion given by Cave_Troll and have it authenticated and slabbed. But before spending that money, I would get it properly weighed. A jewelry store will do it for you. But if the weight is more than a few grains off in either direction from 5 grams - save your money.
HI DOUG This comes up all the time about the proper weight. What is a good scale I can purchase to weigh all my coins?
There are lots of them out there. I always recommend using one that will weight to within 0.01 gram. The one I use also weighs in grains if desired. A search on Google for coin scales will bring up many hits - HERE'S an example.
