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 Replies: 72 / Views: 7,874 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1191 Posts |
Good story bobby131313. That was really nice of you to get the kid set up for $2! I'd be very shocked if many children are into coins these days. I'm in my late 20's and am even still a little "young" compared to many other collector's. I inherited my grandpa's old copper penny collection and that's what got me started. We were really close when he was alive but for some reason we never really talked about coins! I guess I just didn't have the interest when I was younger. I would love to go back and talk to him about it but now he's gone. He just saved all copper pennies stating it wasn't worth cashing it in and they would be worth more for their melt value than face value. I don't know if he had any other kind of a collection but I never found it and other family members moved into his house. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5828 Posts |
I was waiting for matthewvincent to post here! Very nice information! Also, good post bobby! Loved the story!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
The Liberty nickel is the Rodney Dangerfield of coins: it 'gets' no respect. Yet Bobby's story is a case to refute that statement. A young collector has eyes opened... If for no other reason, these 'lesser respected' coins of the Barber design can be used to excite a new generation of collectors. For a few pennies, what better way to promote our hobby? |
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Moderator
 United States
15437 Posts |
I have some understanding of this series ... having spent over 5 years now pursuing the Liberty nickels in honest AU state. My suspicion regarding the current popularity of the series has been stated already - most of the coins were well circulated. Today's collector has a choice generally between unappealing AG/G/VG examples or high priced MS examples ... the coins in between are very difficult to find. Most collectors are attracted to coins whereby the essential design elements are evident ... and for the Liberty nickel this requires at least F12. Hence my 5 year+ quest (so far) to find honest, problem free AU examples. The key dates from my set ... 1885 Liberty nickel - PCGS AU55 1886 Liberty nickel - PCGS AU55 1912-S Liberty nickel - PCGS AU50 These are relatively expensive coins in this grade - and very difficult to find in the marketplace. Hence my 'vote' that this underappreciated series is the result of mainly too many well worn coins - and not enough market available examples in collector grades. David Take a look at my other hobby ... http://www.jk-dk.art |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
AMEN, David! Here is my lowly 1885 in only very fine:   Coins which do not exist in sufficient surviving numbers are reason why collectors are disappointed, even loathe to pursue a given series. Those of us who are dedicated ( or a bit crazy ) keep looking... ... and is this not a definition of collector? |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10038 Posts |
My opinion as to why they are not collected: 1. Ugly design compared to later designs on other coins. - even one in UNC condition seems nowhere near the eye appeal of am UNC Buffalo. 2. Non precious metal. - the design is more classic than a Jefferson, but Jeffs can be had in silver, and a lot of people related to Jeffs since they grew up with them. 3. Most Liberties are worn down from use. Having said that, I need the 1885 and 886 to finish my set... and quite a few more Buffaloes. When I was a kid this set was very easy to get for pocket change as compared with the Buffalo set  How much squash could a Sasquatch squash if a Sasquatch would squash squash? Download and read: Grading the graders Costly TPG ineptitude and No FG Kennedy halveshttps://ln5.sync.com/dl/7ca91bdd0/w...i3b-rbj9fir2 |
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Valued Member
United States
317 Posts |
I have a few of these somewhere but my first impression of the series came from the really worn examples as a child and I didn't get excited about the series due to the lack of details in the coin. But nickelsearcher illustrated that it's a beautiful design and the proofs are amazing. I'm interested in saying hello to the series again but the high quality ones are pricey and looking at what people want for the key dates 85, 86 and 12-S (ones nickel showed) turn me off to the series. Nice examples by the way.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
My short answer to original question: The V nickel design is boring, the coins are seldom seen with toning, there are only a few scarce dates, and you can put together a full set in AU for only $5-6K. Not an ambitious long-term undertaking. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
940 Posts |
My 1912-D Liberty nickel in XF-40 grade. My only other V-nickel is a BU "no-cents."  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1450 Posts |
I think the Buffalo nickel has a great deal of collector value because the people who can afford to buy coins are mostly Baby Boomers who have some cash at last and they remember these coins from the days you could collect them in the wild. As has been said the metal value is minimum, but sentimental value is high. Great design, but generally poor mintage quality for the first years until date was protected. How many million of these coins from early years are just smooth as silk? If the mint had wanted to they could not have arranged for a coin to wear in the worst possible place. When I got to coin shows I do notice most of the dealers are older guys. At long last I have a few bucks to collect the coins I loved as kid and now they are expensive like the SLQ, Mercury dime and Liberty Walkers and Buffalo nickels. The best deals are the Mercury dimes and Peace dollars IMO. You can get most for relatively small money and they are silver. If you had responsible grandchildren you could pass these collections on to them and in 30 years I bet they would fetch a pretty price. Maybe sooner I hope. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4416 Posts |
Here's my favorite Liberty nickel ... an 1885 in XF that's an engraved cut-out coin:   Talk about getting no respect!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1704 Posts |
Quote:
I think you missed the point gyrene. I got the point alright, reread exactly what he said and you will see he said you won't melt silver for its nickel content. Edited by Gyrene7483
06/08/2015 12:45 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4963 Posts |
I think the part about silver was not intended to be read with the part about nickel content, but I agree that it was not written clearly.
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CCF Sponsor
United States
702 Posts |
Sorry about that, I read and re-read and it makes perfect sense to me.
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Moderator
United States
188660 Posts |
We melt silver coins for silver, reducing the surviving population.
We do not melt nickel coins for nickel, hopefully keeping the population at a normal level (minus normal losses from other causes).
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Replies: 72 / Views: 7,874 |
First Page
Posted 06/07/2015 4:22 pm
