I took photos of 2 three legged buffalos. I hope the photos post OK. I know they are not in great shape. I would appreciate your help on grading them. Any comments are appreciated.
James; It is my belief that both coins have been harshly cleaned at some time in their existance. Because of this the best I would do is give the top coin a F-12 and the lower coin a VG-8. I personally would not be interested in having either of these coins in my collection. Sorry about that.
Thanks for your response. I don't think they have been cleaned, but they were stored for a long time in paper coin envelopes which I believe caused the dullness in color.
They are both 3 legged. They have the appearance of being cleaned, and for practical matters of appearance and grading, may as well have been cleaned. The reason for the comment (these may not be the correct technical coin terms) is because they have a dull washed out appearance. Long term storage (30 -40+ years) in old 2X2 coins envelopes that were not made of acid free paper resulted in the surface damage and appearance you see. Coins stored for the same period of time in old Whitman folders with no slot for a 3 legged buffalo are fine. Coins unsorted and left in a jar also did not have this storage problem. The really sad thing is that my Dad spent countless hours carefully labeling sorting and placing many of these coins that he had in storage envelopes that he thought were designed for proper coin storage.
The dullness of the coin is not what makes me think they were cleaned. That is to be expected with almost any coin with that much wear. The thing that makes me think they have been cleaned more than anything is the darkness in the protected areas with light color all around. For whatever it's worth Jim - I rather think the cleaning took place before your dad acquired them.
GDJMSP thanks for the information. You may be right about it being cleaned before he received it. You have much more experience and knowledge than I do, so thanks for sharing it with me. I am sure it cost five cents, that is taken from circulation. I know it was not something he would have been able to afford even at the prices back then. I will look at some of the other buffalo nickels and compare. There are over four hundred buffalo nickels that I removed from tan 2X2 coin envelopes and put in cardboard 2X2 holders. A dealer I talked to and showed some of the coins in envelopes said the dullness was due to acid in the paper coin envelopes. Thanks to everyone for their comments.
