Grade my 1883 V Nickel

Give me your honest opinion on the grade of this coin. Thanks.

 

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I'll give it a shot. With the large scratch on the obverse in the hair and below the curl, as well as the corrosion on the reverse I would give it a VF30.

 

VF-20. I think L in LIBERTY could be bolder for higher. Plus the scratch on the obverse.

 

An 1883 no cents Liberty nickel, I would say that it is about a fine 15 but the scratch in ms liberties hair is a deep enough gouge that I would knock it down to about a 10 or 12. An interesting thing I heard about this coin was that they were sometimes called a racketeer nickel, unscrupulous people would gold plate it and pass it as being a five dollar gold piece, back when 5 dollars was a lot of money. So the mint added the cents to the coin to stop that racket.

 

Yes, indeed.

 

information i did not know. learn something new every day.

 

I'm the last opinion you should consider, but I'd say F15/net F12 for scratch.

 

Yes, the crook would offer a gold-plated nickel for a small purchase, and say nothing. If the merchant recognized it as a nickel, oh well. If he interpreted it as a half eagle and gave change, his loss. Either way, to prove criminal intent was almost impossible.

Interestingly, the same thing happened in England in 1887. The "jubilee" six pence had no indication of value, and some learned to plate one and try to pass it as a sovereign. Just like the nickel, the design was quickly changed to include a prominent "six pence".

 

Here is an interesting article about Josh Tatum and the Racketeer Nickel. It makes you wonder if this whole story wasn't just made up by some less-than-ethical coin dealer to sell something that wasn't.

If anyone has any further documentation on this subject, I would love to have a link to it.

Chris

http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v10n08a15.html

 

Briefly mentioned in the Red Book (2011) pg.126

Breen discusses it in his encyclopedia, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, pgs.252-253.

Sorry, no links to offer

 

f-12.

 

That is the story I've read as well. What's interesting as a collector is the 1883 no cents seem to be overly represented in my search results when I look for good quality Lib head nickels (in the affordable price range).

 

1883 no cents nickels were actively saved in the wake of the gold-plated fraudster story. The with cents version is much scarcer, because it was not saved at the time.

 

F-15

 

Here is one version of the story:
http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article997.chtml

 

I will go with VF20. TC

 

This is a hard one for sure. VF hair, but only a strong F liberty. If I were buying it I would want to pay high F value not VF.

So my vote is F15+

 

i bought it and 16 others in a book for $17 so i say i did good.

 

hmm, from what I've read the Josh Tatum story is fake -- or at least, cannot be proven.

Not that racketeer nickels are fake.

 

F15 scratched/pitting and it looks cleaned.