Cherrypicking is one of my favorite past timss. I love to work a room full of dealers,or even just sit at home and cherry pick the net. I was low in my coin budget so I knew I have to stay within my means or the time spent would be in vain...who wants to pick a top variety only not be able to afford to purchase the pick. So I drew up my plan to stay witin my budget....and either pick larger ebay dealers who for the most part buy lots,and sell them off as fast as possible to turn over for a quick profit. So I needed a larger dealer with a good inventory and pricing within my budget. The first two items that came to mind was either a Three cent CN or a Shield nickel. Both offer lots of varieties and aren't sought after as other series...another plus as I do collect both. So I picked a well known dealer on ebay...and begain my search. They had quite a few pages of Shield nickels. And prices were right. I go thoughout this sellers inventory. Majority of their inventory were common date 66,67,68,and 69 Shields no worries as those dates have a ton of varieties. He also had a few 1870's 72 82,and 83 dates. So I went through their entire inventory...and came up with 3 specimens that I knew were winners. A 1868, an1870,and a 1872 nickel. The 1868 was a no brainer it was an even wore coin that was the FS-1868-05-901 reverse of 1868. The color and wear were nice evan wear...the color very natural skin. The next was an 1870 again a very evenly worned specimen with nice color. And its clashed with an Indian Head cent making it a very rare R- 8 variety. And lastly an 1872 Shield nickel that is a rarer DDO. Notice the annulet is doubled as well other devices on the upper shield. This too is an R 7 variety. Varieties are out there.....all one needs to do is hunt them...
The 1872 is a very cool find as it has a platchet error, a repunched date, a ddo, and believe it or not...a mpd in the ball the #2 digit was punched. An R-7 rariety
Awesome pickups as always Paddy. I just got a similarly low grade but very exciting Seated quarter… you’ve seen it already but since it’s a cherrypick I’ll wait until I get it in hand before posting pics. But you all won’t be disappointed! I always ALWAYS look at the annulet on every single Shield Nickel I look at. It’s going to happen… eventually. Lol
