Just a quick question abou Full Step Nickels for you guys: From what I can tell, PCGS will give a Jefferson the full step designation when it has 5 full steps. NGC and ANACS will differentiate whether there are 5 or 6 full steps. My question is this: When I use a price guide, and I look up the price for an MS65 or MS66 nickel with "full steps", do the price guides generally mean 5 full steps or 6? If the price guides generally mean 6 full steps, doesn't that pretty much render the "FS" designation by PCGS as almost useless? And if I have an obvious 6 full step coin inside a PCGS slab, should I crack it out :hammer:and send it to NGC if it is a semi key in high grade? I just bought an MS66 (PCGS) 1942D and I haven't gotten the coin yet, but the pictures make it look like it has 6 full steps. It's an Omaha Bank Hoard coin, but it looks like it is graded correctly. Here's a link to it: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320502560525&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT I think I stole it...but i won't know until I get a better look at it. Steve
When you use a price guide, you're generally looking at a 5-step price. For many issues (think 1941, 1947, 1948), there is no significant price difference between 5 and 6 steps, because all the coins are nice. For other dates, 5 step coins exist, but no 6 step coins are known. Premiums on these coins would be much higher. For the 42-D, I cannot accurately count the steps from the picture. As far as price guides, I know the Full Step Nickel Club put out a price guide a few years ago. I don't know if they've updated it since then. I don't have one, but I want to get ahold of one. I've seen it before, and I recommend it if you're collecting full step coins.
Thanks...I actually have a pretty cool price guide that came out about a year ago and is available at Books-a-million. It's a specialist book for the buffalos and the Jeffersons. They differentiate the prices pretty well. But what I want to know is what is the value of certain issues when a 5-step variety is considered rare, but a 6-step variety is almost non-existant. And who buys them? I mean...I'll make up an example here...suppose the 1960D nickel is $5 in MS65, but $300 in MS65FS. If the 6 step varieties practically don't exist, then the price likely refers to the 5 steppers and the 6 steppers are more valuable, but how much more, and who actually writes the checks for them? Maybe I need to join the full step nickel club, though I just enjoy hunting and don't really sell anything anyway. Steve
Look 'em up on Heritage Steve and you'll see what you want to know. If a Jeff has 6, then NGC labels it as 6 on the slab. But they didn't used to, so ya gotta know the cutoff date. Think it was '03 or '04. Before that, the slabs had no labels because it had to have 6 or NGC would not call it an FS at all. PCGS on the other hand calls 'em FS with just 5 and always has. But the pics on Heritage are usually good enough co you can count 'em. And the prices are always there.
Ah. I think the book you want is Bernard Nagengast's "Jefferson Nickel Analyst." He goes over each date/mintmark combination and gives his opinion of the rarity of 5 steps and 6 steps for each coin. He also gives lots of other useful information. No pricing, but you'll get a better idea of rarity.
Here is an excerpt from a thead I wrote about the full step designation one year ago to the date. Read more: http://www.cointalk.com/t49827/#ixzz0igZPlo0T I should caution you that evaluating prices of registry quality full step Jefferson Nickels is extremely difficult. This quote comes from a post I made last year as well. Read more: http://www.cointalk.com/t56404/#ixzz0igYurxqJ I don't know what price guides you are using, but Numismedia (NGC) does not offer a price guide for full step Jefferson Nickels. Since PCGS does not differentiate between 5FS & 6FS, their price guide is for any coin that meets at least 5FS. The PCGS designation is not useless. To the contrary, with NGC's acquiescence, 5FS is now the universal standard for full steps. I would be very reluctant to crack out a PCGS Jefferson and submit it to NGC. Despite the fact that NGC is far more strict with the designation than PCGS, the disparity in numerical grading standards will usually cost you money. Regarding your E-Bay deal, I think you paid a fair price. The last four PCGS 1942-D MS66FS Jefferson Nickels sold by Heritage realized: $92----------11/3/09 $93.15-------3/15/09 $80.50-------9/21/08 $81.65-------7/29/08 My personal opinion is that the 6FS has lost favor with most Jefferson nickel collectors because it is unknown in several dates and almost unattainable in a whole slew of others. Collectors like a challenge but hate impossibility and holes. Five full steps presents a challenge, 6 full steps is impossible. The 6 full step coins are beautiful but I do not place a large premium on a 6 full step coin over a 5 full step coin. I hoped this answered your questions. If not, feel free to ask some follow up questions.
Lehigh, You are a God to me. You just confirmed what I thought I knew and answered so many questions that I've had about these series. You also gave me a good resource for determining the values of these things. I've been using E-bay as a touchstone for figuring out what stuff should cost and a little bit of dead reckoning. I was surprised to see that I didn't get a "great" price on my '42D, as I have been watching the auctions pretty close and I was kind of amazed what even the loose prices were. As you know, the '42D is a tough cookie in high grade, and that was the last big hole in my collection...I already have a the '39 S & D in high grade, though they are loose. I'm going to send them off to be slabbed. I'll have to send you a picture of my '39D...it's pretty amazing (toning) but you'd break your legs trying to walk up the steps on the back. Candidly, the full steps for me have been an afterthought...I've been going after high grade toned jeffersons firstly. But I've seen such a nice return on the Jeffersons that I've decided that staying with "investment grade" coins is prudent. I am amazed sometimes how inexpensive this series is relative to the level of difficulty associated with putting together something really nice. It will be our secret. Hey, if you want to collaborate on duplicates, let me know. I have a lot of nice raw war nickels. I tend to buy good things when I see them and then look at my want list later. I'm focusing on '49 through '60 now...I only need four before 1949. I had this thought that it would be cool to put together a super high grade slabbed set of just the war nickels...like all '67's...seems like that would be fun, eh? Steve
Steve, Thanks for the kudos my friend. It is refreshing to see another collector passionate about Jefferson nickels. My collection is centered around eye appeal, but I make it a point to obtain full step examples when the date/mm is commonly found in full steps. The 42-D is not particularly tough in full steps but is very tough in high grade with exceptional eye appeal. This is the best I could do so far and I am looking for an upgrade. You should consider entering your coins in the NGC registry. It is a great way to keep track of your collection and to show others. If you are focusing on eye appeal, the NGC point system rewards coins with the star designation. The war nickel set is what sparked my interest in the series. I purchased a lot of 4 Appalachian toned war nickels from Anaconda and was off an running. Before I knew it, I had completed the entire set in MS67 save the 43/2-P. Once I added the overdate, I searched incessantly looking for upgrades. While I am still on the lookout, improving the coins in my set at this point is proving very difficult. In case you have not seen it, I presently own the 2nd ranked NGC registry set of Jefferson War Nickels: The Atlantic City Set of Jefferson War Nickels Amazingly, only 4 of the 12 are full steps. My best chances at upgrades are the 1942-P, 1943/2-P, and the 1943-D. Assembling a set of MS67 war nickel is very fun indeed. I am now working on my PCGS registry set. Let me know if you ever have any questions about the series or need any help locating a coin. Paul
