Are These Full Steps On This 1945-D 5c Jefferson War Nickel [ms68 NNC]

Thank you. It's taken me a while to find you guys, as I've been looking for a legitimate and knowledgeable coin community for some time.



I figured the grade was optimistic, but the steps are pretty clean and the coin is very good condition.

How do I take a photograph of a coin that comes out well? I have a quality camera.

Thanks CoinFrog: it looks like I need a lot more equipment, but the tips on focal length and lighting were helpful.

I appreciate the feedback, it's very interesting.

May I ask, if there are full steps that should mean the strike is pretty solid, right? Then what are the imperfections that you guys have identified that you think keeps it ~MS66?

The strike on the steps looks pretty solid and off good dies. That doesn't mean the whole coin is well struck although yours does look well struck overall.

The color, or in this case discoloration, hurt it. There is some blotchiness to the color which would, by itself, likely knock it down to 66 or 67. There are a few stray contact marks, primarily on the reverse, that would drop it further with the overall grade looking like a MS65FS to me.

It's a nice coin for sure and probably worth ~$15 retail. Here's a PCGS MS67FS for reference.

If you bought it thinking NNC and PCGS grading is in any way comparable, sorry, but that was a mistake.

Understand that NNC is not a reputable grading company. It's a guy in Florida who buys coins - including details graded coins in reputable slabs - and reslabs them in his own fantasy land with clean grades several points higher than others assign. There have been threads posted here and other boards showing coins he bought on ebay in details slabs and then advertised in his own clean slabs.

That is not to say there aren't -some- nice coins in an NNC slab. But use a huge grain of salt.

Interesting. I knew NNC was bad, but I didn't know THAT was the perception.

Okay, then I'm comfortable knowing it's about an MS63-65 then.

Thanks for your help you guys! I know I'm a huge noob, but there's so much information out there. It was one thing learning about strikes and dyes and different mints!... now to know the grading differences feels like learning Arabic.

It was especially difficult trying to figure out how to even get PCGS to grade a coin, much less the differences between PCGS< NGC, and NNC.

Your new pics are a great size but still not quite sharp enough. One evident flaw is an apparent hit on the reverse below the middle of the word "Monticello".

Thanks for the warm welcome and the support you guys! I really appreciate the information. I've read a few books, but it helps to hear details about the coins you actually own.

See you around the forums... I hope I have something to add.

You have a nice example of a silver nickel. Does it really matter what the folks at a grading service say? As someone pointed out, for a coin like this, you can spend the whole value of a coin on grading fees.

I would break it out of this slab (NNC slabs are easy to get open) and put it in an airtite, so you can handle it, inspect it more closely, and it will take up a lot less space than a bottom-tier slab WHICH (as you have seen by the responses you've gotten) can actually lower a coin's value by association.

For nickels like this, I don't doubt that some decent coins can end up in low-reputation slabs, because it just isn't worth paying to get them graded, based on what you could get for them.

In my opinion, chasing low population numbers is a less fun hobby than learning about coins and what makes them desirable for yourself. But no one cares what I think. You should do what is fun for you, but recognize you are not to get rich by finding hidden gems encased in NNC slabs.