Hi all, Just received this beauty "PL" 1883 (No Cents) V Nickel. Since this is my 1st high grade V Nickel, I'm a little hesitant concerning any grade/condition regarding these series and am hoping to learn a bit more about grading these. For those of you V Nickel experts, is this coin cleaned (dipped) or possibly PL? It might just be a simple BU coin, but if so, the V Nickels must be known to have near mirror-like fields. There's virtually no hits in the fields, and there's a bit of "dusty" toning as well. Here are the pictures of the obverse: Pics of the reverse to follow. Thanks! -CB
I don't know about PL though I wouldn't count on it but I'm my opinion that just looks like a really nice BU.
It looks like it took a little cleaning. It's a shame too, it looks beautifully struck and mark free.
Both obverse and reverse got plenty of quite visible hairline scratches, under certain angle on photos it seems cleaned.
Thanks for the input. I agree, saw those as well. I initially thought that those were die polish marks...apparently not! EDIT: Under further magnification I think those are die polishing lines. Most are too thin and light to see whether they are incuse or not (i.e: cleaning or polishing), but a few of the "stronger" ones are definitely raised above the surface. They are all parallel (diagonal) as well and does not exist on any of the details; they end at any actual designs/words and continue when they end. I think the major issue is whether it's been dipped or not, which the "dusty" toning is a strong tell tale sign that it might have been as such.
It does not...all of the lines/scratches abruptly end whenever they hit a relief or pattern. There's also a ton of parallel polishing marks that can be seen in Liberty's ear, where there is no relief as well.
Doesn't look cleaned to me. The hairlines are all going in one direction making me think of die polishing. Looks like a nice BU to me.
