1885 nickel

Grade? AG.

 

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The 1st one posted also gets my vote .
rzage

 

Reading my mind again I see. I might give the reverse a tad over "typical" AG though.

 

Here is the one I ended up purchasing. Its a PCGS G4. It is similar to the others posted, but the price was significantly better.

 

Nice coin! I like it.

 

I like it, it has a very clean look. I just don't understand how the TPGs can get away with calling these coins G4 when they don't have a complete rim though.

 

I hear you Richie. It all depends on what standard you use I suppose. The standard on barber coins is that the obverse rim needs to be complete, but the reverse does not. I've looked at many many G4s(pcgs ngc etc.) over the last month or so, and what I've noticed is that they all have full obverse rims, while only maybe 25% or so have full reverse rims. This puzzles me somewhat. It almost seems like there are striking weaknesses on the reverse of these early dates, because the vast majority of them seem to be noticibly weaker on the reverse than the obverse. The 1886 I posted showed that difference even more extreme. I truly wonder why this is?

 

I honestly don't know why it happened...but I suspect your right. It is probably that the rim wasn't struck as deeply into the coin on the reverse. I doubt it is so much of a "weak strike" as the dies simply didn't have the reverse rim quite a deeply imprinted on them. It does seem pretty common though. I know the TPGs all have their own grading standards...and perhaps they don't require the reverse rim to be full to gain a G4 grade.

 

Very nice coin, I like it also! :thumb:

Phoenix

 

received coin today. It's hard to photograph through plastic, but I did my best for now. There are some scratches on the plastic.

 

Looks good!

Looks good! It must be nice to have that coin in your hands. Will you be cracking it out to put the coin in an album? If so, keep the slab label for future reference & maybe attach it in the back of the album somehow.

Very best regards,
Collect89

 

thanks collect. the temptation to crack out is strong, but I think I'm going to leave it intact in this case. I just have an old whitman album, but I plan on upgrading to a Dansco here soon. I know its bad for some of my coins that have a weak reverse...lol, but it is a much nicer album overall. The 1886 that was posted earlier was in an ANACS slab(the one with a VG obverse), and I ended up cracking it out. It was graded G-6 cleaned, though the cleaning was mild and not that obvious. I have all of the other nickels except the 12-s. I plan on actually velcroing the slab to the inside of the Dansco album, so it can easily be removed and viewed, but stays with the set. Then I will fill the hole with a plug. I did that with my Lincoln set. Here is an example of how I did this with my 1909-s vdb with my set.

 

Great idea & I see it works well for you. Slabs should be easy to fit in the V-Nickel book because there is only like 1 page & there should be plenty of room. I'm surprised you found room for that primo 09SVDB in the Lincoln cent book. I have that Dansco Lincoln cent book & it is really jammed full of pages. BTW, I do not own an 09SVDB. I've got all the others including the 22 no D but not that 09SVDB.

Very best regards,
collect89

 

Tis true. The lincoln book is STUFFED. I removed the 2008-2016 page, as its mostly empty holes. However, the album has all the proofs and small/large date varieties with every hole filled up through 2007. I was thinking about getting my 22 no d and 14-d and 31-s slabbed as well, so I could adorn the cover with slabbed keys. You don't know HOW many times I've been tempted to bust open the 09svdb slab though...lol. It's hard because Im much more of a collector than an investor, but I'd still like the ability to sell quick and effectively if I need to. You never know what may happen in this economy.

John.

 

Here is an interesting article about this date.
http://www.numismaticnews.net/article/1885-nickels-prices-soared-but-too-high/

IMO the reason the value is SO high, is that 90% of them are beat to shreds. Just look them up on ebay or heritage, there are tons of corroded/scratched FR-2 and AG-3s.

Still, the price on this coin defys logic a bit imo....and for that reason I'm quite drawn to it.

 

.
I think that's just it...there's no supply to meet the demand.

But, the article does make me wonder something as well. It says that Littleton purchased 360K unsearched Liberty Head's in the 1980s and only found 25 1885s, which is much lower than the average would suggest based on the mintage. What if there is a hoard of these things sitting somewhere waiting to be discovered. That would account for why it seems like there are far fewer than their should be. It has happened before. An example of this is the 1902-O Morgan Dollar. Before the 1960s this was a key coin and very valuable. But, a bunch were found in treasury vaults in the 1960s and now it is affordable. Now, I'm not saying a bunch of 1885s are sitting in a vault somewhere...but it seems like there are fewer than their should be.

 

Interesting thought. Though if this were true, I think it would also apply to the 1886. The 86 has a similar value/mintage ratio as the 85. An 86 g-4 is valued well over $200 which is significantly more than the 12-s at g-4, yet the mintage is more than 10 times the amount(3.3 million to 238 thousand). The 12-s has an even lower mintage than the 16-d dime. I think the 12-s date must have been vastly hoarded and preserved to keep it so inexpensive.

 

make your head spin

Hello Johnny54321,

I saw something 2-years ago at the Summer Seminar that would just make your head spin. My classmate/friend had his Dansco V-Nickel book with him & I asked if I could see it. Every hole was filled with a gem BU example. They were all basically 65s & 66s IN A DANSCO BOOK. He had a couple 12S filling the extra holes. The 12S in the 12S hole was the nicest example I had ever seen in person.

Very best regards,
collect89

 

I would not be at all surprised if a big hoard of them was out there, Heritage sold a hoard of 448 1927-S Standing Liberty Quarters 4 or so years ago.

They minted 397,000. Assuming that 10% survived, that makes that 12% of the surviving 27Ss

 

I'm fine if someone finds a big hoard out there; as long as that someone is ME! :thumb::thumb::thumb:

don't worry, i'll share.