I got out to one of my favorite parks to hunt and my 1st signal was a keeper from 5-6" - An 1885 V NICKEL !!!!!! Holy Schnikeys Batman !!! I've never recovered a semi-key or key date US anything... Its the holy grail for this series... I also recovered an 1896 Barber and 1917 Mercury Dimes... Toss in a buffalo and 3 wheaties and make a nice group of keepers tonight... What do I do with this coin... Other than donate it to the anyone who asks Have it professionally cleaned - have it slabbed ??? I'm sure there will be little to no detail left if I attempt anything... The reverse was facing up and took all of the water and has less detail...
Nice finds congrats! Nickels don't fair too well underground. A TPG won't grade it because of the corrosion so sending it in to get slabbed would be wasting money. There are method's to "clean" you finds, but none that are really going to salvage the coin and make it gradable IMO.
Congrats on the find. Me - I would see what the local shops would give me for it. Assuming you do not want to keep it.
Yep, that's a nice find. Congrats! It looks like both the nickels have pink deposits; I've got a similar one, and although I didn't dig it myself, I suspect it has the same background as yours. (I'll be starting a thread about it shortly.) Do you know anything about the kind of soil where you found this? Clay, dirt, wooded, pasture?
Nice find. I would do one of two things: Keep it for myself as a very cool find. Put it up "as is" on ebay with your recovery story. Either way it's a win. Congrats!
It was recovered in a park that has been there since the mid 1800's... I call it indian park because I have recovered 60+ Indian head pennies from it. The park has yielded me 4 seated coins (3 dimes and 1 quarter), one of the seated dimes being a nice 1877 Love token, countless Barber dimes, 3 US Large Cents, and a few Mercs... I've recovered 10-12 buffalo/V's from this park as well... It is rare to dig any coin with high nickle content that holds up... In fact this coin had some major pitting and the reverse is almost all gone... The date it the strongest part of the coin... I'll post some updates pictures today... I'm not a coin collector and have kept all of the older coins I've recovered - I've kept all of the half dollars and barbers. I did sell of all of the roosies, merc's and washington quarters when silver was at $46/oz... At best it would only be a place hold in a set for someone that could never afford a proper 1885, but wants to complete their collection...
That's what I would do. It's a rare date and will still bring many bids. Great find. Wish I lived near that park.
I'm always on the lookout for new places to go... uh, birdwatching - yeah that's it - birdwatching. This park of yours sounds perfect. Where exactly is it again? :smile
