This makes no sense. (V-Nickels)

Well, a lot of things in numismatics make no sense, but this takes the cake.

1883 No Cents V-Nickel

5.4 million minted.

Value in Au-50 is ONLY $14 (per 2012 red-book).

1884 V Nickel

11.2 million minted. TWICE as many as the 1883 no cents.

Value in Au-50 $130


If you look at the rest of the liberty nickels, for the entire series, the value in Au-50 is at least $60.

But the 1883 No Cents, the oldest out of the bunch, with a respectively low mintage (only one other year was 5.4 million), is only worth $14 per red book in Au-50.

What is the reason behind this?

 

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1883 was the first year of issue. Usually the first year of issue is saved in larger numbers than subsequent years. When the 1883 No Cents was discontinued people saved them in HUGE numbers.

So look at surviving population rather than mintage.

 

It makes plenty of sense!

In 1883 many people hoarded the nickels because of the 'Cents, no cents' fiasco, thus they're available in higher grades. While the survival rate of an 1884 in AU-50, which didn't have any importance, is much lower because it wasnt hoarded, and circulated much more heavily.

 

They were heavily hoarded when they first appeared, so there are lots of uncirculated and very lightly circulated examples. They're probably much more common in high grade than any other coin from the 1800s and early 1900s, with the possible exception of Morgan dollars.

I've bought a couple of unsorted lots of Liberty nickels, and I find an average of about one high-grade no-cents specimen per roll. They're actually less common in low​ grades, from what I've seen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Head_nickel#Release

http://www.coinlink.com/CoinGuide/us-type-coins/liberty-head-nickel-with-cents-1883-1912/

 

This has been brought up many times including by me. The "no cent" variety people believed would be confiscated so they saved almost all of them in great condition. The "with cent" variety were not thought to be special so nobody saved them. The price is driven by conditional rarity not mintage.

 

Well, I love V-Nickels, so if I can save $45 each time I buy a older coin, so be it! Lol.

 

As a collector, if the objective you have is to own as many 1883 V-Nickels as possible, you are on the right track. If your objective is to own different examples of V-Nickels, you may want to re-think your buying stratagy. Do you always buy the least expensive coins in a series, over and over again?

 

Yeah, the 1883 No Cents V nickel is a cool coin. I've been wanting a MS-66 one for a while. NGC's price trends on this coin is one of the steepest declines I've found. Four years ago, they were valued at 7 to $800. They have dropped all the way down to $375. Some have sold recently for less than $300 over at Heritage. A dealer wanted $600 for one at a show a couple years ago. It would be interesting to see what he wants for them now.

I picked this one up for my type set at a show last spring. This one cost me $25. The black specks are something on the surface of the coin that looked like they could be scraped off but I didn't want to. (Don't mind the dime. Got it at the same show for the same set.)

 

Let's also not forget that this is the racketeering nickel. Plate it in gold and many merchants at the time would have given you silver and copepr change back thinking they were getting a $5 gold piece. Hense why the with cents variety. So for that reason alone people hoarded them to try to make a dishonest buck. Plus once this was found out then zach24 and H8 modern's comment comes into play about the gov't. confiscating them add that to Hobo's point about people collecting first and last year issues. Now you have coins that sat in draws and metal boxes and other years were spent as money and heavily circulated.

 

Merchants back then must of not had good eyesight, if someone was going to spend $5 at a store, which was the equivalent of $115 back then, SURELY you would of looked at the coin before accepting it. Even a kid can see the obvious difference between them.

 

Rather than respond in knee-jerk fashion I would suggest that you do a little research on the subject. A simple Google search will point you to several articles that have been written about Racketeer Nickels. It is a fascinating area of numismatics.

 

I did. People gold plated them and tried to pass them off as 5 dollar gold pieces. My point is that only a blindman would think they are the same. Note the big eagle on the back.

 

But how would you know this wasn't a new design? You don't have radio, or television, you might only see a newspaper once a week and they don't go out of their way to keep the public informed about design changes. Chances are good you haven't seen an 1883 half eagle but now you have this high quality piece that looks like gold, says it is from the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, and has a big V for 5 on it. And you haven't seen any non-plated V nickels either. Now what do you think/do?

 

You bite it? I see them do it in movies all the time.

 

That might be the case, but a regular shopkeeper or vendor who's not in touch with the changing world of numismatics wouldn't think anything of a newer gold piece. Which is why the whole thing lasted only a few months until word spread around.

 

Psst. Coin designs sometimes change. Some merchants realize this.

Remember, the five-cent nickel itself wasn't that well-established at that point -- they'd been around for less than twenty years, and the half-dime had been in production until 1873. Which does the Liberty nickel, plated in gold, more resemble: a shield nickel, or a Liberty-head gold piece?

 

OK you bite it and it doesn't take a mark, so you know it isn't gold plated lead, which is what they are actually checking for by biting them. You ever try biting a gold coin to try and make a mark on it with your teeth? I have. It can be done, but it is a good way to wind up with broken teeth. But gold plated lead will take a mark quite easily. So you do a moderate bite and if it MAKES a mark then you reject it.

 

My apologies. Being a modern person I tend to forget that communication was rather limited in the 1880s.

 

Hey - even in this modern age you have read about people rejecting coins because they thought they were fake. And some of them were just proof coins in common series. I would look on here for some of the article links, but they might not work and that is too much trouble at times.