I have a question for shield nickel collector . If the 1883 shield nickel was made at the same time as the liberty nickel ,why isnt this year consider a key date. I have notice there was not many minted for that year, so again why is this a common date if there was only roughly 1 million minted ? This is one reason why I dont understand about coin value and common date
Many were saved as a last year and is one of the most common dates. @ 1 million pieces is higher than the 71,79,80, 81.
There was four other years that had a lower mintage . Its still not consider a common date to me . Even if it was save that shouldn't effect the value but who knows how they put value on coin.
Mintages many times have little to do with rarity and pricing in many grades. Look at Morgan Dollars for example. Pricing has a lot to do with surviving examples of a certain date/ mintmark in a given condition.
Speaking of this, the 1883 V nic exists in the "no cents" and "cents" varieties. There were many more made with "cents", but the "no cents" is the more costly. If you lived then, which one would you have saved, the error variety or the correctly minted variety. This is reflected in cost.
Are you sure the no cent is more costly I have a few nice one ,and from what I know the cent is more of a desirable version. Btw how much is a ms61 v nickel no cent 1883 worth?
Mintages are not the only driving factor in pricing coins. Availability and demand can also drive pricing. Not many people collect shield nickels because of the key dates. So I believe there is less demand in general than liberty nickels. I believe more people collect liberty nickels, but possibly lower grades. Just my opinion. Now if want varieties - go with the shield nickels. Lots of varieties - recut dates, doubled dies, over dates. I really like the DDO. The "with cents" is the one that costs more than "without cents". Yet of the 3 coins the 1883 shield nickel runs a little more from what I have seen than the two liberty nickels - at least in talking in general. You get to some of the higher grades and it can be different. I actually think in morgans that there are a couple of dates you would call key dates if you want MS64 coins - easier to find a VF to XF coin, but tough to find a MS coin. Same for buffalo nickels - I think there are a couple dates like that also. To me the most notable is the 09-SVDB - plenty of those around but demand keeps the prices. Just my most humble opinion.
I stand corrected, gotta proof these things better. The "cents" variety is the more expensive of the two despite the fact that there were fewer "no cents" coins made, since most people saved the error coin.
