Nicely toned War Nickel set I picked up last night. Didn't photograph all of the coins, just the prettiest ones... Paid greysheet bid for the whole set. They were encased in a glass and cardboard holder, one side was glass so you could observe the obverses, held in a cardboard holder not dissimilar to a whitman folder, backed by another piece of cardboard. The side that was in contact with the backing piece of cardboard created some pretty extraordinary colors.
Oh you lucky dog, those are awesome. You should put some nice gem untoned war nickels in the holder and see if they start to tone after a few months.
I was actually thinking about putting the cardboard backing on the obverses to get those to tone too, haha. I'm pretty sure these things were sitting there for a long time. Lehigh, do you think they'd slab or get bagged for Env. damage? Worth the cost of slabbing? PS; I don't have any gem untoned war nicks. Should I dip these and start over? Juuuuust kidding!
To be honest, I just don't know if they would grade or not. Almost every coin in the group shows indicators of both AT and NT. The real problem is that these I have never seen these patterns/schemes on war nickels before. That in combination with such vivid colors will probably call the originality of the toning into question by the TPG's. My guess is that they would not grade. If the coins were better quality, I would recommend sending them in, but since they are mostly in the MS64-MS65 range without full steps, I don't think the premium associated with the toning would be significant enough to offset the grading costs. Now if these were MS67's with strong strikes and full steps, they would bring very strong prices indeed.
I think it's a gamble... I'd speculate that if I could get these into slabs, they would fetch solid multiples of bid, especially if listed with someone known for selling high-quality toners. If they're not market acceptable, which is certainly possible, I'd be taking a hit...
The colors on these are so crazy that all you really have to do is get them under some decent light and it just bounces right off. The craziest toners I've ever owned, by far.
I'm not saying they're AT or NT , just I have the same type of album for 20th century type coins , the silver toned some nice colors on a few but mostly in the darker spectrum , the others mostly turned dark russet . Yours sure are nice looking though .
Sorry to bring up this relatively old thread, but I got a few questions regarding the price of war nickels set. What is the price according to greysheet for this set? I see on eBay completed listings of MS-60 sets sold lately for $31 and $42, and there is a set with 11 hours left and its currently at $56. According to red book from 2010 the price for 11 coins in MS-60 is in the area of $60, and another catalog from 2011 says $80. What is a current reasonable price for 11 war nickels in MS?
I love them Merc! Great pickup and great images. I can't believe I missed this thread. Taxidermist, as someone who frequently watches and purchases the gem war nickel sets in the old capital holders, I can tell you the going rate for the set on ebay is around $75-$125. Some sets even go for more. To find them at grey sheet, or red book price is not an easy task. Let alone with any color. I recently was able to steal this set at below grey sheet, but I suspect the chances of that happening again are slim.
Most dealers, and a couple of B&Ms, near me have complete War Nickel sets, in BU-low CU range listed for $80. I would run a search on BINs on eBay and see what asking prices have been acceptable to buyers.
According to eBay, BU sets are sold from $70 all the way to $135, very common in $85-95 ranges. UNC are sold for around $55. It seems the deal I got lately for this set was quite all right, out of 11 UNC coins there are about 5-6 that are BU with a lot of luster, paid $40 including international shipping.
I have a question about those Capitol holders. Are they screwed together or easily taken apart? I have seen a few on Ebay but the coins do not look UNC/BU. I know those have been tampered with. Is there anyway to tell if the case has not been touched? I would like to pick one up. Thanks for the help!
