Destiny of a 1952 Jefferson Nickel

Teach me - How can an MS67 have the flurry of bag marks on the jaw, shirt collar, and center of Monticello?

 

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I agree, it's definitley not MS 67, but boy does it look good!
Very nice coin, and great story of how it came to your collection.

 

It can't - I've been waiting on someone to bring up that point!

IMHO it would grade out at MS65 - it got a bump because of the color. I could agree with maybe a 65*, but a 67???

Speedy

 

It must have been the periwinkle toning. Heck, Speedy, I'll bet you don't even know what that is.

PS: It is an awesome one, Lehigh; nice steal.

 

what??....Periwinkle? Isn't that a light blue/slight purple?

Speedy

 

That's a gorgeous coin and a great story. Now, I have a question. Doesn't Tom's cheek look awfully rough to be graded 67? Just asking.

 

IMO, the color had nothing to do with it. The 50's and 60's Jefferson's are graded by a different standard than the early nickels by NGC. PCGS would have never given this coin an MS67, but it is consistent with the way NGC grades Jeffersons Also what you are seeing is extremely magnified by the size of the photo. I can see this coin in an MS66 holder as well, but I don't have a problem with it in a 67. Just to show you I am not making this stuff up, here is a photo of a 1955 NGC MS66.





NGC's grading standard with regard to Jeffersons are a big reason why PCGS Jeffersons sell for a much high price. In my experience, NGC is usually about 1/2 a grade to high with this series.

 

Mazel tov!

 

All I know is it sounds expensive to me.

 

Amazing. I have a 1952 jefferson nickel. Can't believe I could get that much for it.

 

I thought the first coin was also the same as the last. Looks like they have a slight variances.

 

I don't know how I missed this post. Anyway, those are not bag marks you are seeing. They are remnant planchet flaws that are usually forgiven during the grading process. You will find these planchet flaws on the high points of many, many Jefferson Nickels.

 

Paul
I'm sitting in an airport, waiting for a delayed flight, wanting to poke my eyes out. Saw your blown-up photos of the '52 on my bb and it made me smile. Great job. Don't you already have one of these in your registry set? I guess it gets the bumpdown.

 

Yeah, I just bumped the thread because I realized there was a post that I did not respond to after re-reading it.

 

I need to be educated! NGC rated this coin as MS 67, and yet when I look at the excellent photo of the reverse, it looks positively beat up to me!

I'm sure NGC knows a MS grade coin when they see it but why does the reverse have so many malformations? The "U" in "pluribus" looks eroded and the porch has obscured steps and the roof line over the porch is deformed.

Were 1952 nickels just poorly struck?

 

I'm glad you like the coin, Lehigh, and $200 sounds much better than $1k.

 

Here is a quote from Q David Bowers, A GUIDE BOOK OF BUFFALO AND JEFFERSON NICKELS "Many mint state coins are around, but most have poor eye appeal, and even those taken from undisturbed bank-wrapped rolls are apt to be discolored or downright ugly. Finding a sharp one will take some searching. The Mint simply was not interested in turning out quality this year. Marks and nicks are common on Mint State coins, many from the surfaces of the original planchets."

Quite simply, the standard for this year as well as other years in the 50's is different than those in the early years of the series. The strike on the reverse of this coin is not fully struck and there are some remnant planchet flaws, however, the overall strike is superlative when compared to other 1952's that on average don't even show full windows.

 

.....i agree with doug. i think NGC missed the grade on this one. 65 would be more like reality. just my subjective opinion.

 

That may be true, but Bowers does not control the grading standards at NGC. They are very consistent in the fact that they routinely ignore planchet flaws for this series. To be fair to this coin, you really need to compare it to some other 52's. As Mike (Leadfoot) points out all the time, coins at this level are often ranked instead of graded. Even for the Rodney Dangerfield series of US coins.