Hi Friends, I am a complete and utter novice. I know NOTHING about coins, although my grandmother was a collector and I possess a few things that might be interesting. I do buy and sell vintage and antique items, more as a hobby and as a collector than as a business. I just like cool old things! So last week I bought a lot from a collector. It was a box of interesting old items like antique dog license tags, chauffeur badges, old pens, etc. My husband was looking through it and said "Woah, what's with that weird nickel?" I hadn't even noticed it. It looked like a regular nickel to me. He told me that there was something odd about it, that the strike and surface were unusual. It still looked like a normal nickel to me. I have a bunch of coin books from grandma's collection, so I went to see if I had any other 1964 nickels to compare it to, while my husband looked up 1964 nickels on the internet. OK, so now I see that it is indeed different. But it seems 99.9% unlikely that this is one of THOSE 1964 nickels. The SMS ones. But now we need to ask people who know a lot more than we do. Here is the auction nickel along with two 1964 nickels from my grandma's collection. I would love to hear your opinions, but please be kind, we truly and freely admit we do not know what we are doing. Thank you!! Sarah
There were over a billion nickels made in 1964, so lots of variation in strike. In the nearly 60 years since it was made, it has toned a bit. I would spend it personally.
Joan Baez wrote a song more than forty years ago that included the lyrics, "You say you're not nostalgic, then give me another word for it, you who are so good with words." I don't know how many 1964 nickels I have, but if I get one in change I toss it into this jar of odd coins—odd because of their age. There may have been billions minted in '64 but I'd venture it's been more than a decade or two since I last saw one in change. Probably worth only a nickel, but the stories it could tell. It's the nostalgia in me.
Chris I have a strong suspicion that this member would not know your reference. By itself it does not follow the forums philosophy Yes I know why you said such, but you could have explained a little further on such toning. Jim
@SarahNovice, welcome to CT! I suspect you will have fun here! Your coin has the "look" , & while there are many '64's out there, that one is a nice 56 yr old specimen. I'm with @LA_Geezer & would throw (read: place it gently) it in the keeper pile (thank your husband for being so observant! ). Happy collecting!
To me it's a normal worn out circulated nickel that saw so many of them minted it's insane. If it were me I'd spend it. The dog tags and other items sound like more fun. Welcome to CT.
