Grab Your 1971-S Proof Sets & Look For This Rare 5¢ Variety!

I feel bad but I can't help but laugh . It's not a loss really at pr 66 they are worth 3 dollars anyway and as far as I know his coins are all really nice . So here's to hope and who knows you may get lucky and he had another. Let us know only took like 3 days to get to me in FL

Being that it was an blatantly obvious error on the reverse die of a proof coin, I seriously doubt the die pairing was able to strike enough coins to advance the die state before being discovered and replaced. So it's my theory that all examples found should be almost identical.

It is interesting though that the one I have exhibits a deep cameo appearance whereas the stock photo in the listing I saw on ebay didn't appear to be a cameo?

I'll try to retake a few pics of the doubling on mine and post later to compare.

By the way, your ambiguous description of this prize has me very intrigued!

SilverStackerKid, how exactly did you come up with your educated estimate of about 50?

I found this statement online pertaining to early 1970's DCAM Proof coinage:




So that's roughly 50 coins struck before they transitioned into full mirrored proof coins like some of the known examples of this unusual variety.

However ,I feel that ANY attempt at calculating a realistic survival estimate of this unusual variety would be virtually impossible (mathematically speaking), due to the unknown variable of how many coins were found and removed from the bins by mint officials, immediately following the discovery and replacement of this blatantly obvious flawed reverse die.

Then you must consider, of the nickels that were overlooked, how many were able to go undetected and become successfully hand placed into proof sets, heat sealed and then somehow able to pass through the rigid final visual QC inspection (looking for mintmark presence and proper coin alignment), before being sleeved, boxed and ultimately shipped out to dealers and customers alike.

Taking all those factors into consideration, I have come to the following conclusion...

Until this very unusual proof variety receives the proper recognition and attention from "the powers that be", whom have the ability and resources to easily make this spectacular multi-variety proof coin known to the entire numismatic community, its actual population will most likely remain a mystery.

Well, my LCS has about 250 proof sets from 1968-present in their vault. Going to have to see if I can get my hands on a 1971 S that has this going on.

Bump....

Well it's been almost a year and a half since I've mentioned this enigmatic Proof nickel. I've personally searched through hundreds of 1971 proof sets in that time that I have purchased from various auction sites and LCS's and still haven't found another one. Anyone else have better luck?

Not one that has been in the limelight all these years.