Found this 1964 P nickel today. Wondered if it considered a black beauty? Have found lots of conflicting information online and wanted your input. Thanks in advance!
All of the bubbling on both the fields and devices on the reverse lead me to believe some type of environmental event.
ED. Environmental damage. Appears to have been in a fire, or just in contact with some material that turned it dark. The fabled "Black Beauty" was a batch of planchets that were improperly annealed and mostly come from 1959, but can be found in other years. The "shiny" areas of wear indicate it is only surface dark and not through-and-through that color.
Thanks all! What made me ask was the overall evenness of the color. The"shiny" areas are just light reflections, the actual coin has no uneven color areas. I had read about black beauties and that most were from 58' and 59, but then said other years too without specifying. It's weird because the coin has a luster to it, not just a dull finish. Probably a fire coin.
Here is another picture with a little less light to show the evenness of the color. Still probably not a black beauty. But interesting.
Thanks for the additional photo. Look closely at the rim and unless it is just the lighting, you can see the silver color coming through.
The term black beauty pertained to the 1959 Jefferson nickel. Yes since 1959 other dates have been found to be dark in color due to impropper heating of the nickel blanks. True Jefferson nickel collector only recognized the 1959 date as the" true black beauty nickel variety".....all others are just dark nickels. And I concur the specimen looks to have environmental damage. As the true black beauty nickel wasnt black more of a dark grey....I know this to be true as I was a YN durring this time peroid in a coin club....and the 59 black beauty and the 50 D nickels were well sought after specimens.
