Please Grade 1939-D Jefferson Nickel

Similar to a guess the grade, but the coin is raw so just tell me what you think the grade of the coin is and vote in the attached poll. For the purposes of the poll BU=MS60-MS64 and GEM BU=MS65+. Please respond with your specific grade in the comments and whether you think the coin is worthy of grading submission or just an album filler. Thanks.

 

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- Voted "AU" in the poll
- Incomplete luster, light wear but not much; AU-55
- Album filler

 

This is sort of a tough one from the images .
I'm going with Au..... but the lack luster is so mute that to me sort of a slider. The rubs aren't that bad, but, there looks to be some sort of environment issue on the obv. Surface. Not sure if a bath would help or hurt? There's what looks to be a few lamination issues going on, the improperly alloy mix may account for the mess on Tom's coat.There's plenty of meat on the bone for an xf.-Au album set.

 

Look at the date/mm again.

 

It's a reverse of '38.

 

The S in pluribus is the key pickup point. If it has a serif, it's the reverse of 40, if it doesn't, it's the reverse of 38. No need to check the steps...

 

I went AU because of the color, but I really don't see any indication of wear. That's a tough one even with your nice images.

 

I'm going to go with BU and more specifically, ms-64. The coin is well struck, and to this eye, shows no wear at all. The grey toning is interesting and might be a product of previous storage. I have more than a few commems that exhibit a gun metal grey, yet reside in '65 holders. Sometimes the effect is characteristic.

[edit to add] The coin is worthy of 'slabbing' (MHO) if one tends to such. Me? I'd keep it raw.

 

which is better?

 

Reverse of 38 is somewhat harder to find on Philly nickels, and the reverse of 40 on the Denver and San Francisco nickels. The 38-d with the reverse of 40 likely had a mintage of a million or less.

 

I had the same question as Treashunt so thanks for that quick reply.
So the 1940 reverse, would actually be the 1939 reverse. Are all the 1940's, the
1939 reverse?

 

It doesn't work that way. The 1939 Nickels shared two reverses. They named the reverses for the year before and the year after. Obviously the reverse of 40 was created in 39 but it is never referred to as the 1939 reverse.

 

Paul is this specimen graded?

 

Nope, and I don't own it, and it isn't even my photo.

 

You know as a nickel collector with two sets of ms and one proof of Jefferson's . I still wish that the original design was used.....as my belief is had it I believe this series would of even been more popular then it is.
It also would also fallen into the classic Art Deco designs of the 1900's throughout the 1930's

 

What's your take on it?

 

It could be low BU with muted luster but I'm leaning towards an AU slider.

The real question is, what did the seller of this coin advertise the grade to be?

 

God only knows..... I agree with you, T money and a few others here a nice coin for an album filler,I personally don't believe it's any better than that.... lol well will admit much better than my first 39 D found in my news paper collection bag back in the 60's.
However at least you could find a 39 D just not dang 50 D

 

Gem ultra rarity I'm sure.