1943-S 5 Cent Help With Surface Authenticity And Grade.

I Wana say your guessing AU 53 but sticking your neck way out could be MS63 lol. It seems to be in good shape and very clear fields, the surfaces and toning are odd compared to what I'm used to seeing with coins but with the unique metal composition of these idk how to judge. I think it cost like 4$ after shipping, I just wanted a War Nickel when I purchased it.

Another thing that throws me off is based on what looks like wear but very few contact marks and almost full steps imo(if I could post a close up it's just a weak looking last step with possible slight wear.

Maybe it was lightly cleaned and re toned? I don't see obviouse signs of cleaning in hand. I was thinking more over dipped if it is details.

I don't think grade matters much with these unless in high MS, I think it looks nice and for 4$ I can't complain considering most Americain coins cost me closer to 20$ shipping if I decided to get them lol.

So seems the summary so far is AU details. I'm still curious about the strike itself, don't think I'll label this one but keep it as a nice toner piece(imo).

I don't see any hairlines (?), just a trace of softness and a bit of apparent rub on Monticello to suggest this circulated briefly.

A acetone bath would be a good idea. I agree with above comments, AU.

So first pictures taken outside in natural light, these new ones are taken inside with natural light, idk what's a better representation. They almost don't even look like the same coin, like comparing in hand to true view the sunlight in the first picture brings out some weird colours.

One major thing I have noticed is that aside from the Monticello looking weakly struck it almost looks like the left side is warped like it took many hits the lines are not straight in the design but I don't see contact hits that would have shifted the metal. The Monticello also almost has full steps(I can show a close up if needed) but the rest of the design lacks detail and is warped.

I checked the weight and it was 5.06g. I'll accept AU as the grade, it's better then what I guessed lol and it's a fairly common coin from what I can tell, this one just has me confused because of the reverse. Maybe I should list it in the error forum and see if the error experts can tell me more. I know nothing about War Nickels and have had this for a while but I have recently been going through my old coins since I have not been purchasing the last couple of months.

I dont think it's full steps, close but no go. I'll post a close up today. The steps though being so well struck compared to the rest of the Monticello is odd to me. The second set of photos was just for surface and colour representation as the first set just makes me think I'm looking at TrueView pictures, I was surprised how nice they turned out.


Definitely not full steps idk if it's missing one or two. but still well struck steps considering the rest of the Monticello, maybe the close up will help with surface representation.









Edit: it also appears to be a MAD on the obverse above the date, even the folded Rim Fin looks really weak so should I just assume AU weak strike and possible details. Most think details, I don't have anything to compare with and have not seen a non details example in hand so it's tough for me to judge.