I was visiting some family in a small town and stopped in at a pawn shop to see if they had any old silver coins and noticed he had a shield nickel in a little plastic bag. On the bag it said 1878 shield nickel, $375 bucks. I have absolutely zero knowledge of shield nickels but after hitting the interwebs a few days later I now know what it "could" be, an 1878 Proof. This shield nickel has seen heavy circulation and since I didn't really take time to examine it, it could be a 1873 instead of a 78. But now that I'm back home and 4 hours away it's all I think about. Would 375 bucks for an uncertified, maybe G 4 1878 shield proof be a good buy?
Well I collect shields and yes a great price if it's real as there were only 2350 proofs minted! However if you want to spark an interest in shields let me tell you for that kind of money you could buy quite a few shields in xf plus. The reason I love collecting shields Varieties there are more varieties still not found then are already listed! They are the first real nickels and offer the collector a lot of excitement hunting the many oddities . Another fun series is the half dime.
Very strange, the Redbook prices the 1877 and 1878 Shields (only Proofs minted) in both Extremely Fine and in Proof, suggesting that for whatever reason, some got into circulation. However, my opinion, $375 is way too much for a G-4; "maybe" $50. The number of date collectors for Shields is tiny, and few of them would want a beat-up coin to go with their AU's, Unc's, and Proofs.
Ah not so..... yes I strive for xf plus nickels . ... however if I find a missing leaf in Good, or a RPD I snatched up. A coin with a mintage of 2350 even in good is better than none, especially when the odds of finding another is slim to none in a URS of >2
Well next time I'm up that way I'll stop in again and see if it's still there. I think if it is a '78 Proof, I'd offer $250 and go from there.
It will be a proof as 78 was a proof only year no business strikes were minted. Even after being circulated its still a proof
Good luck with that as I would maybe come down a few dollars from asking just to make a deal, but in a good auction if certified it be double his asking .
[QUOTE="doug5353, post: 2088084, member: The number of date collectors for Shields is tiny, and few of them would want a beat-up coin to go with their AU's, Unc's, and Proofs.[/QUOTE] I love cherry picking these nickels , I only hope and pray your statement is correct to me it's like striking the mother load on a claim. So do me a solid .... collect another series going to a show and cherry picking a nickel for less than $50 that worth five time that amount is just pure pleasure! Even better to discover a new variety and adding that to your collection .
"mother lode" Whatever. Have fun. The only thing I buy now is type coins, working on two sets, once in a while an interesting (copper or bronze) medal or token, just because I like it.
You better know, not just hope, what you're doing before placing hundreds on a pawnshop counter for that coin.
Yeah, it would be shame if this had been played with to look like an 1878. Even the surfaces could be played with to make it look like a circulated proof.
Oh I agree 100 percent!! I've never been one to buy something on a whim. I would have to spend a lot of time looking it over under a loupe and asking the owner a ton of questions.
IMO, unless you are working on completing a proof set of shields, buying a very well circulated 1878 for hundreds of dollars would not be a very good buy. Sure it's a proof only issue, but the mintage is 2,350 pieces. This is a very large mintage for proofs of the day and one of the most common among shield nickel proof issues. The only reason that it has such a large premium is that it is included in many albums. You would be better off finding a nice unimpaired proof of another date for about the same money. A similar story for the 1877, though it has a mintage of only 510 pieces. This one was tough to come by. It took almost two years to get this one to complete my shield nickel proof set (minus the 67 with rays of course, can't afford that one) It a PCGS PR-65 CAM. Sorry I don't have an image of the reverse handy.
My bet is it will be a well circulated 1873 closed 3. The reason they changed the date font to the open 3 was because they looked like 8's. I have seen several "1878" shields that were actually 73's. If it actually IS a 78, then I think $250 to $350 sounds fair.
And yes this crossed my mind also. As well as pawn shops have jewelry tools that could be used to doctor a 1873 into looking like a 1878 to an untrained eye,
