1953 'Nickel' - NSF With Near Design

If you use a 4 or 10 power magnification jewellers loop you can clearly see the flairing on the top coin opposed to the straight I on the bottom coin. In addition on the bottom coin, the shoulder fold is as clear as a bell. Even at F-15 Trends lists it at $500 so don't take less than $300 for it. Rare indeed.

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated! Wert, there are 2 varieties to look for: The first is the one shown at the beginning of this post (I'll be pursuing certification to make sure, and for now I must assume it is the NSF near leaf/design). The second variety is the SF with the far leaf/design. The NSF near is somewhat more scarce than the SF far, thus the difference in value. Also, there are the above versions with 'missing chrome'. I'm not at all in touch with the details and good examples of coins with missing chrome, other than if it is featured on one of the varieties, you can basically triple the value.

Good luck with your search!

In 1953 there were 2 obverse varieties, No shoulder fold and Shoulder fold. On the NSF variety older coins are distinguished by the obverse legend style of letters: they are more flaired particularly the E and I in DEI. The reverse was also modified in 1953 resulting in Far and Near Leaf varieties. Prices are only slightly higher for the Shoulder fold variety.

During the strikeing of more than 16.6 million coins, there was a mix-up between the two intended dies making 4 varieties;
NSF far leaf MS-60 $4
NSF Near leaf MS-60 $2000
SF Near leaf MS-60 $6
SF far leaf MS-60 $1650
Missing chrome varieties are also found in the 4 coined examples.

OK...So here is what I found with my 1953 nickels...

11 have leafs almost touching the beads.
9 have leafs far from the beads.

I am no expert, what do I look for next...?

Ya, stupid me DBM...That was the obvious next move wasn't it...?

There was one thing I neglected to mention. The '53 came to me via a box of nickels from a local bank. Every once in a while, the seemingly endless searching does reault in a pleasant surprise!

I found this one metal detecting

Hi Staircase

That toning came when I got home from hunting coins and ran all my find under water to get most of the dirt off,i am surprise to see how fast a coin can become rainbow after these year underground I did find quarters,dime,and dollars that came to the same result.