GTG: 1938 D Buffalo Nickel

Latest addition to collection. Please guess grade, and feel free to voice opinions.

 

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nice coin ill guess 67 D/D its pretty obvious
did the other recent one inspire you to do this?

 

Nope. I had bought this a week ago. Love beginning and end of coin’s mintages. I have a nice 1913, and now have a ‘38D.

 

To me, by photos, this does not look to be as strong a strike as the other/first one yesterday...so went 64 but not surprised if a 65. I would be if it's any higher, but indeed a nice example no matter.

 

Wrong! It is a very good strike for the date. End of the die life, as it was the last Buffalo minted.

You are comparing it to these junk photos???

 

for comparison This one was certified 66 by PCGS.

 

MS-66 D/D

 

Beautiful - I'd imagine it's MS67, based on how original the fields look. Certainly does appear to be one of the RPM varieties.

 

I voted MS66 D/D

 

As mentioned several times in the past, the strike quality for each year and mint makes grading difficult, but that being said, I'd guess at MS66 but the MM isn't a match to others, but then a close up of the area might show otherwise. Nice coin and I'd be happy to have that in my collection.

 

Does this help?

 

Best closeup I can get but I'm sure its there.

 

66-plus D/D

 

I think it has to be D/D no question. Looking at mine in hand it is much more obvious and Morgan dude's looks pretty much the same as mine on the MM in photos (only my coin is raw and has a few spots and is definitely only comparable in the mm aspect).

 

The die state is so extreme it's actually obscuring the design in the devices. I don't know that they're going to want to go much higher than MS65 or MS66 for that. I'll give it MS66. It's very strongly struck, but then that only accentuates the die wear in the devices, too. I really like it, I'm sure in that die state it's a real shiner.

 

Yes, the dies were terrible by the 1930s, particularly the S and D mints. Since 1938 was Denver mintage only, and they got 7,020,000 out of badly worn dies, it is hard to get fully apparent devices, despite good strikes. This particular coin does pretty well, with what it’s got left, and believe it or not, MS 68s do exist. They cost $45,000 or so.

 

They were concentrating on the new designs coming up, that's why they let those dies go to hell. This might better MS66, now that you mention that. The die state shouldn't hold a grade back, anyway, IMO. I'm real curious to see what they gave this one, now, especially while the other mints are just turning out the Jeffs.

 

A D/D and a MS-67

 

I was between a 66 and 67...went conservative at 66....solid Buffalo overall!