1883/2 5 cents

I wish I could get a closer photo of the date, but I'm 95% sure this is a 1883/2 5 cent. It sure looks weird. I see that this date is worth quite a premium. Do you agree with the diagnosis?

 

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I can't tell from the pic. Can you get an upcloser pic?

 

It's a scan so I don't know any way to get closer. My camera won't zoom in that far.

 

Well, something is going on with that 3. Some of the sharper eyes around here might to be able to help.

 

That "something" is the fact that it's an 1882, I think....

 

A case could me made for an overdate there does appear to have both cracked dies on top left of the 3s

 

no, not the overdate.

 

You can go to shield nickels . Net and see all the varieties for this date . This is not the over date. Some even have die chip that are often confused with the variety .

 

Since the coin in question appears to be a 1882 it cannot be a 3/2

 

First thing to look at is the spacing of the digits in the date. The dates on the shield nickels was punched in with a four digit logotype punch so the digit spacing is the same on every coin for a given date. On the 1882 the digits are fairly close together. But on the 1883 they are spaced widely apart. Look at the 1883 that tpsadler posted. You could almost slip another digit in there between the 8 and the 3. Now look at your coin. See how close the 8 and final digit are. Nowhere near as wide as on an 1883. And if there is no 1883 logotype punch, it can't be an 1883/2. once you learn to recognize that wide 1883 date you'll find yourself condemning misattributed 83/2's everywhere (Probably one of the most frequently misattributed varities around.)

 

Thanks for the explanation. It's too bad. I don't collect the series and I didn't know anything about it. I just thought the date looked strange so I checked to see if there was a variety and sure enough there was. It belonged to someone who had a lot of money and therefore might have purchased an expensive variety at some point.

 

The reason you see a lot of misattributed 83/2's is because the 2 in the 1882 punch tended to develop die chips filling in the voids in the 2 creating the so-called "heavy 2" and in lower grades everyone starts seeing it as a "3", but since the bottom edge still has the wave of a 2 they think it's the 3/2. In higher grade some people try to pass it off as a 2/1, a variety that does't even exist.

 

Here is the exact nickel in AU-50 ,it's from the same obv. die as the one you posted you'll see the die chip protruding from the top of the two better from my images.