First Coin Show Results....

Hey everyone! Just acquired my first two 3 cent nickels this week. Bought the first on ebay and the second at my first coin show, and the coin show nickel was cheaper with better details. won't be using ebay for a while :computer: The first picture captures the color accurately.

Also bought a couple of half dimes, my first of the seated design and denomination as well! The 1839 has a wicked die rotation, I think around 280 degrees (hopefully that's right). In any case, I flipped the coin over so that a normal example would be be normal, and you can see that it's off by a good bit!
I'm not sure but the 1867 SHD might have been cleaned at one point, which I suppose I shouldn't be surprise about....in any case, didn't pay a terrible amount for both of them combined.

Let me know what you think about these...grades and what you would pay for any of them (especially the rotated dime!).

 

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the half dimes

 

Your 1881 nickel 3-cent is particularly nice.
They are VERY difficult to find fully struck.
Yours has just a touch of softness at the top of the first "I" in the "III".
Above normal strike.

The 1867 is about what is normally found.
Weakness in the middle of the first "I" and slightly into the second.

Overall opinion: Be more selective of what you buy. It's really a pain to have to re-buy a coin later because you didn't get a good one the first time.
And now I'm talking about the half dimes.
The 1839 is severely damaged. And of course as you've noticed the 1860 has been cleaned harshly.
You'll end up buying fewer coin because the good ones cost more.
But the good ones are the ones you'll keep for a lifetime.
And I'm not talking about the grade. Stay away from damaged and cleaned coins.

If you use the 1881 nickel 3-cent as your model for quality you'll be much happier down the line.

 

::sigh:: I suppose I should be a little less stingy with my money, or rather, just save it for the good stuff. lord knows I could have bought a really nice something with the money I've spent on random stuff.

Thanks for the advice! I think this marks a turning point in my collecting habits.